


The Gray Son

by Titansfan1211



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: And is that Jason Todd?, Angst, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Court of Owls, Gen, Mystery, dick grayson is a mess but that's to be expected, everyone is trying their best, talon robin????, tbd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23585353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Titansfan1211/pseuds/Titansfan1211
Summary: After a recon mission that leads to more questions than answers, Robin dives deeper and deeper into the investigation of a conspiracy he was never supposed to know about. Batman can't protect him forever. But who said he needed protecting?A Court of Owls story.
Relationships: Artemis Crock & Dick Grayson, Artemis Crock/Wally West, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Wally West
Comments: 47
Kudos: 190





	1. The Note

It was a typical Friday for the team - after a quick briefing from Batman, they were sent to investigate a warehouse out in Bludhaven. Suspected trafficking, Batman had said. The Justice League had been tipped off anonymously. And while the tip had been vague on what sort of trafficking might be going on there, security footage pulled from the area seemed to support that _something_ shady was going on there. The team’s mission? Find out what.

However, upon the team’s arrival, it appeared that they were too late - the warehouse had already been abandoned. It seemed like all evidence had been wiped clean from the place. No machinery, weapons, crates. Hardly any furniture remained. Just a few desks, chairs and filing cabinets - all of which had been emptied out. There wasn’t so much as a fingerprint left behind. 

Luckily, whoever wiped the security footage was sloppy; Robin was able to recover about twenty minutes of footage from one of the cameras. As he sifted through the footage, looking to find an identifiable uniform, face - anything they could work with really - Superboy spotted something.

“Wait, what’s that symbol in the background?” Connor asked, pointing to a pixelated blur in the corner of the screen. 

“Dunno. Let’s find out.” Robin connected his holocomputer to the monitor, typing away. “Enhancing footage now… got it!” Though still a bit blurry, the symbol seemed to resemble some sort of bird. “Running it through the cave database now to see what we know about these guys.”

The team watched as the screen loaded, searching through all their records. To their surprise, there were zero matches. “Maybe they’re new?” Artemis posed with a shrug.

“I’m not so sure,” Kaldur replied. “With the level of organization they have displayed thus far, it seems unlikely they are amateurs.”

“Could be a rebrand,” Wally joked.

“Maybe…” Robin put a hand up to his ear, activating his communicator. “Robin to Watchtower, come in.”

“You’ve got Watchtower,” Batman’s voice replied from the other end of the line, “Report.”

“Whoever’s running things here, they’re not in our database. We picked up a potential identifier on the security feed. We were hoping you could run the image through the League’s database, see if you get any hits.”

“Acknowledged. Send it over.” Robin complied, forwarding the image to Batman. 

As the image popped up on Batman’s screen, Robin heard a sharp intake of breath over the line. “Do you recognize them?”

After a slight pause, Batman responded, in a measured voice,“You’ve all done good work. Go back to the cave.”

“But what about the mission-” 

“No further investigation is necessary. Head back to the cave immediately.”

“But why-”

“That’s an order,” he cut off his protege. “Batman out.”

Robin slammed his fist down on the desk. Feeling the worried stares of his teammates behind him, he took a deep breath, pushing down his frustration. Calmly, he turned around to update his friends.

“Batman’s ordered us back to the cave. He says we’re done here.”

“So, a successful mission then?” M’gann asked, trying to spin it positively. 

“Batman knows something. He’s just not telling us. But why?” Robin asked, more to himself than the group.

Trying to take charge before anyone decided to go rogue (as they so often did on these ‘simple’ missions), Kaldur stepped in. “If Batman is withholding information, I’m sure he has his reasons. It may be that we need further preparation before we continue our investigation. Perhaps he will clarify the situation once we return.”

“Yeah, and perhaps candy will start falling from the sky,” muttered Kid Flash, though he followed Superboy and Miss Martian back towards the bioship. Kaldur hesitated, looking back towards Robin, who had yet to move from the desk. He glanced over at Artemis, who put a silent hand up in reassurance. She would take care of things. Kaldur nodded, following the others out.

Artemis made her way over to Robin, leaning on the desk besides him. She said nothing, waiting.

“What’s the point in sending us to investigate if we’re not privy to the information we discover?” he vented, “It’s irresponsible. If he wants us to have the best possible chance to take down whoever we’re up against, he shouldn’t be keeping us in the dark.”

“Maybe this isn’t an enemy he wants us to face.” Robin turned his head away. “Look, I hate being out of the loop as much as you. But aside from the security footage you recovered, this place has been wiped clean. We’re not going to find any more answers here. Our best bet is to head back to the cave, and hope to get some answers there.” 

Artemis pushed on, hoping the slight relaxation of his shoulders meant she was getting through to him. “And if he refuses to keep us in the know - wouldn’t be the first time you’ve hacked into the League’s database, would it?” He couldn’t help the small smirk from appearing on his face. She knew she had him.

“Alright. You win,” he conceded, hands up in defense. “I’m coming. Just gonna give this place one final sweep, okay?” Seeing the look of doubt on her face, he pleaded, “Just to be sure. A few minutes, that’s all I need.” 

She sighed, feeling like she would come to regret this. She reached up to her ear, tapping her comm. “Artemis to Aqualad - go on without us. We’re right behind you.” Robin looked over to her, puzzled.

“Artemis, are you sure-”

“There’s a zeta tube two blocks from here. We just need a little air, that’s all.”

There was a pause on the line - probably Kaldur weighing out the potential for trouble they could manage between here and the cave. With a slight sigh, he gave in. “Alright. I’ll see you both at the cave shortly. Aqualad out.”

Artemis turned back to the boy wonder, who was still staring at her. “What? Did you think I’m stupid enough to leave you to investigate some mystery group on your own? You’ve got twenty minutes.”

Nodding in gratitude, Robin hopped down to the lower level of the warehouse, making his way towards the offices. Artemis stayed in the main room of the warehouse, scanning all the nooks and crannies for anything they might have missed. 

* * *

Tired of her fruitless search, Artemis headed towards the offices to gather up the boy wonder. “Robin?” she called out, peeking into each room. She found him in the third office, glancing up from behind a set of filing cabinets. “Find anything?”

“No. Nothing. Let’s head back.” Artemis hummed her approval, heading out the way she came. 

Once she was gone, Robin glanced once more around the room, then back towards the door. He looked down again at the folded paper in his hand - no larger than an index card, sealed with red wax, addressed to him. It had not been in the room before. He slipped it into a pouch on his utility belt, and followed Artemis out.

* * *

_“Artemis: B-07, Robin: B-01”_ the zeta tube announced, as the pair stepped into the cave. The rest of the team had already arrived, and were seated around the room, waiting for the mission debrief. 

“Did you have a nice walk?” Kaldur pointedly asked, brow raised.

“It was fine. Quiet,” Artemis responded, passing Kaldur on her way towards the kitchen. 

“Nice to get some air after being cooped up indoors all day,” Robin added, flopping down beside Wally on the couch. The speedster glanced over at his best pal, suspicious of his sudden cheery attitude.

“You good, dude?” he quietly asked.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Robin casually deflected. 

“I dunno,” Wally pressed, “you just seemed kind of... heated, when we left.”

Robin waved him off, dismissively. “I was, but Artemis talked me down. It’s frustrating how B handles things sometimes, but I’m sure Bats will loop us in on anything important.”

“So you two just had a nice chat and headed back?”

“Pretty much,” Robin responded, leaning back on his arms.

“So did you two talk before or after you continued your unauthorized investigation?”

Robin sat up to defend himself. “Wally-”

“Don’t even try to come up with something,” Wally cut him off. “I’m not stupid. I know you. Besides, math isn’t on your side. Even factoring in the time for a heartfelt chat, you should have made it back here before us. _Way_ before us.” Robin clenched his jaw, saying nothing. Wally rolled his eyes, huffing as he crossed his arms in frustration. “Did you at least find anything interesting?”

“No, nothing,” Robin quickly responded, hand subconsciously moving to his utility belt. Halfway through the motion he realized what he was doing and pulled his hand back. Wally glanced down at his utility belt, then back up at Robin. He had been caught.

Before Wally could further interrogate him, the zeta tube announced Batman’s arrival. As the two stood up to meet the others, Robin grabbed Wally’s arm, silently pleading. Wally, mouth set in a hard line gave an imperceptible nod. He wouldn’t say anything. Not yet, at least. “We’re talking, later,” he whispered through his teeth. Without waiting for a response, Wally made his way towards the debrief area, Robin just a step behind. 

* * *

The debrief was short and sweet. Kaldur gave a quick summary of their findings, and Batman, as suspected, shed no further light on the situation. “Good work. That’ll be all. Dismissed.”

Of course,” Robin muttered under his breath. 

“Did you have something to add, Robin?” Batman challenged, patiently glaring at his protege. 

Robin defiantly met his gaze, but ultimately backed down. “Forget it. It’s not worth it.” Without any further acknowledgement, Batman left the cave, headed back to the Watchtower. His protege exited in the opposite direction, slipping down the hallway to his room at the cave. 

As the metallic door slid shut behind him, he placed his hand on the biometric scanner, locking the door. He pressed his forehead against the door, taking a brief moment to enjoy the cool metal on his skin. 

Taking a deep breath, Robin made his way across the room, peeling off his uniform, and switching into civies. He removed his mask last, blinking in the sudden change in lighting. He gathered the scattered pieces of his uniform hanging everything neatly in his closet. He picked up his belt last, removing the note from the pouch where it had been hiding.

Dick sat on his bed, staring down at the note in his hands. _“This is stupid,”_ he thought to himself, _“I should let the team know what I found. Analyze it properly, before opening it. Tell the League.”_

 _“Yeah, but it’s addressed to you,”_ he debated himself. _“Don’t you have the right to know what’s going on? Besides, if Bruce found out about it-”_

 _“He’d take it before I had the chance to so much as read it.”_ Dick answered himself. _“I should at least tell the team. Wally.”_

 _“Tell them later. It might be nothing. Do your own investigating first, rather than wasting your time. Hell, maybe you can crack this thing before Bruce gets the chance to.”_ He shook his head at the thought. As if. 

He mentally grappled with himself for a bit longer, but ultimately, curiosity won out.

He opened the note.


	2. The Library

“Finished already?” his professor asked, feigning shock.

“Learned this material for mathletes a few semesters ago,” Dick admitted, handing in his test. His teacher scanned his eyes over the first page, humming in satisfaction at his star pupil’s work.

“I swear, the only reason they haven’t moven you up a level is they’re afraid they’ll run out of curriculum.” Dick simply shrugged, willing away the scarlet blush creeping up his ears. “Have any other assignments to work on?” the teacher asked, glancing at the clock. “You’ve still got twenty minutes before the next block.”

“Nothing on me.” His teacher nodded, turning back to his desk. “Actually, would you mind if I head to the library? I’ve got a research project to work on, and my free period is next anyways.”

“Go ahead,” he affirmed, signed hallpass already in hand. 

“Thanks Mr. Callahan.” Dick grabbed the hallpass, threw his pencil and calculator haphazardly into his bag, and made his way down the hall.

* * *

He really had meant to get a start on his project. But with the events of the weekend still weighing heavily on his mind, he could focus on little else.

Dick hadn’t been back to the manor since his little spat with Bruce, choosing instead to spend the weekend at Mount Justice. “To cool off,” he had told Alfred. But really, it was to investigate. He wanted to solve whatever clue was on that note - without Batman’s interference. However, his investigation had been less than fruitful. 

To be fair, he didn’t have much to go on - the note, addressed not to Robin, but to Richard Grayson, stamped with a seal matching the symbol in the warehouse, contained nothing but a short sequence of numbers. He had tried matching them to coordinates, street addresses, Shakespearean verses. But nothing stuck.

 _“Come on, Grayson, focus,”_ he mentally chided himself. _“Just start by finding a few sources. You can do this.”_ With a sigh, he turned his attention back to the database on his screen, scrolling through the search results. Once he located a book that seemed at least vaguely related to his project, he called it a day, writing down the book’s call number.

“ _Hold on...”_ he glanced around the library, before slyly glancing at the note hidden in his bag. He stared at the string of numbers. 819.01 162. 

On a hunch, Dick shut down the computer, and made his way to the shelves, weaving up and down the aisles until he found the 800s section. He carefully examined each book he passed, checking the numbers on the spines. _817.47… 817.89…_ He crouched down to examine the books on the bottom shelf at the end of the aisle. _818.96…_ That was it. Puzzled, he went to the start of the next aisle where he was met with a wall of 820s. _“But where are the 819s?”_ He returned to the end of the previous shelf, meticulously checking each book. He even checked behind the books, in case something had been pushed to the back. But no - the section seemed to skip the 19s entirely. 

“Are you in need of assistance, Mr. Grayson?” Dick hopped up on his feet, spinning around to face the librarian - Ms. Dimarino. The coolest of the Gotham Academy librarians, as far as Dick was concerned. Helpful, knowledgeable. Couldn’t care less what her students were up to, so long as they treated the books with respect. Dick liked that about her.

“This aisle ends with the 818s, and the next starts with the 820s. Any chance you know where I might find the 819s?”

“Oh, you won’t,” she snorted, “there are no 819s.” Whelp, that blew a hole right through his dewey decimal theory. 

“There are none _here_ , I should clarify.” Dick trailed behind her, as she began shelving books from the return cart. “It’s an interesting story, really - when the classification system was created, not every number was assigned a specific purpose. Some were never in use, while others were retired - 819, for example.” She climbed onto a stool, motioning for Dick to start handing books up to her.

“What was 819 used for?” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” she absently replied, “I’m good, but I’m not _that_ good.” Climbing back down, she continued, “If we have any here, they’d be on the orange shelves in the reference room. They're sort of a hodge podge of rare and miscellaneous - books that we don’t quite know what to do with. You’ll need a key to get in - and none of the books in the reference room are to leave the reference room. You can scan copies of whatever you like, but they’re not available to be checked out.”

“One of my student volunteers should be in any minute now - they’ll be able to assist you. Oh! Speaking of - Miss Crock, could you come here a moment?” Perking up at the sound of her name, the girl in question quickly shuffled over to them.

“Hey Artemis,” Dick waved with a toothy smile.

“Grayson,” she acknowledged, attempting to add some warmth to her voice. She didn’t know the kid too well, but he had always gone out of his way to act friendly towards her; saying hi in the halls, asking her to partner up in lab, picking her first in gym. Initially, she was concerned that the aggressive kindness stemmed from some sort of crush. Upon introduction to Barbara Gordon, she swiftly realized her fears were unfounded.

“Oh, good,” Ms. Dimarino chimed in, “You’re already acquainted. Miss Crock, could you please assist Mr. Grayson in the reference room?”

“Sure thing, Ms D.”

“Wonderful. You know where the keys are,” she dismissed, wheeling her cart back to the checkout desk.

“It’s this way,” Artemis offered. “But, I’m sure you already knew that,” she suddenly corrected herself. “I keep forgetting this place doesn’t work the same as public school. You’ve probably been using this library since you were like, what, five?”

“Actually, I only started here a year or two before you.” 

“Really?” she blurted out, unable to cover her shock with any sort of dignity. To his credit, the polite little twerp carried on as if he hadn’t noticed.

“They tried to throw me in here when I first wound up in Gotham, but it hardly lasted a week. The transition from homeschooling to attending Gotham’s ‘elite private academy’ was… rough, to say the least. Bruce figured it would be best to just have Alfred home school me for a while, and try again later.”

“And here you are now, successfully integrated with Gotham’s best and brightest?” Artemis joked, fiddling with the lock.

“Hardly,” he snickered. Following her into the room, he confessed “I don’t think I’ve ever actually been in here.”

“You get used to the set up pretty quick. It’s not as organized as the main room, but it’s easy enough to find things.” Spinning to face him, she suddenly got down to business. “So, what are we looking for?”

_“We?”_

“I-It’s not for class or anything,” Dick dodged, “it’s more of a side project. I don’t want to impose on you if you have something else you’d rather be working on-”

“It’s really no problem,” Artemis shrugged him off. “I don’t mind.”

“Bu-”

“-Besides, I’m sure whatever you’re working on is gonna be way more interesting than going back out there and helping the 8th graders edit their papers. If anything, you’re doing _me_ a favor.” When Dick didn’t protest, she pressed him, “So again - what are we looking for?”

With a sigh, Dick admitted, “I’m not entirely sure.” Artemis raised a brow, waiting for him to elaborate. _“Whelp, Grayson, time to lay on the dweeb.”_

“Alright, this is gonna sound super weird and dorky - and it is - it totally is - but, uh, there’s this friend of mine, right? From a different school. And we play this game with… codes.” Even he sounded skeptical of his alibi. “Basically we send these coded puzzles back and forth to lead each other to different things - sort of like an elaborate version of eye spy. If you find the thing - a painting, book, whatever - that’s how you win the game. Uh-but long story short, the last puzzle he sent me, I think it’s a call number. I’m trying to find the book, see if that’s the- the thing.” He awkwardly trailed off, staring at the floor.

 _“Aaaaand there goes any chance of being friends with Artemis at school.”_

“Ok, cool,” she casually replied. “So what number are you looking for?” Dick jerked his head up, amazed that she was willing to let that slide.

“I-it’s 819.01 Ms. D said to check the orange shelves.” And with that, the two began their search.

* * *

The search was surprisingly quick - Dick found the book on the third shelf he checked. As he pulled the book down, he was showered with dust - clearly these books hadn’t been touched in years. After brushing himself off, he brought the book over to a desk, wiping the cover clean with the palm of his hand.

“Find something?” Artemis asked, peeking over his shoulder.

“Maybe.” He looked down at the book, flipping through it’s weathered pages. It appeared to be a collection of children’s literature - old nursery rhymes, fairy tales, poems. Maybe he had gotten the clue wrong after all.

“So is that it? Did you solve it?” 

“Not sure yet. There was a second number in the puzzle.”

“Probably corresponds to a page number,” Artemis pointed out. Dick nodded in agreement, already flipping pages. While this was happening, a young girl entered, and tepidly knocked on the inside of the door.

“Hey, uhm, are you Artemis?” She nodded, turning towards the door.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Uhm, Ms. D sent me to find you - she needs your help at the check out counter for a few minutes?”

“Alright, I’m on my way.” She turned to Dick. “I’ll be right back. You got me invested in your little game, I want to see how it ends.” Dick shot her a thumbs up in response, still flipping pages. When he got to 162, he stopped, staring at the top of the page. He knew, without a doubt. This was it.

* * *

“You still here?” Artemis asked, poking her head into the reference room.

“Over here!” Dick waved from the scanner, “Just wrapping things up.”

“Collecting your proof?” she asked, nodding towards the half printed page. “Does that mean you won the game?”

“Can’t be certain till I check my answer, but I think we got him figured out,” he replied with a smirk.

“So what was it? Anything fun?”

“Just some goofy short story. I think he was trying to reference this inside joke we have,” Dick responded, nonchalantly sticking the photocopy in his bag. Curious, Artemis reached for the book, still sitting open on the scanner. Before she had the chance, Dick hastily grabbed the book, snapping it shut. 

“I remember where it goes, let me put it back,” he covered, noticing her miffed expression. “Least I can do after dragging you into the middle of this dorky nonsense.”

“I’ll take dorky nonsense over Catcher in the Rye essays any day,” she quipped.

“Either way, thanks for your help, Artemis. I really appreciate it. I’ll see you in lab tomorrow!” he called out, bounding out of the library.

“See ya,” Artemis responded, more to herself than to him. Once he was out of sight, she slumped down in a chair, letting go of a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

In her time at Gotham Academy, she had become familiar with Grayson’s particular brand of awkward. But today? Oof. He was a nice kid, definitely _weird_ , but nice. And he never called her out on all the times she had put her foot in her mouth in front of him. She wanted so badly to return that kindness.

The last forty five minutes, however, had been nothing short of bizarre. There was something off about him - more than the usual. It wasn’t there until she offered to help him with his search. Something about him had felt… defensive. Sneaky. Deceptive. These were not words that she would ever think to associate with Dick Grayson, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Lips pursed, she made her way back to the orange shelves, plucking the book back out of line. She scanned through the table of contents, hoping for something to pop out, but nothing particular caught her eye. She put the book back on the shelf. 

_“It is a dumb game,”_ she thought to herself. _“He was probably acting so weird because he was embarrassed that he had to explain it to me. And he said the story was referencing some inside joke - maybe he snatched the book away so he wouldn’t be completely mortified?”_

She wasn’t quite satisfied with that, either, but what more was there for her to investigate?

She grabbed the room key, preparing to lock up, when she noticed the scanner was still on. “Of course,” she muttered under her breath. _“Wait…”_ Following her instincts, rather than hitting the power button, she hit ‘reprint’. 

Artemis smirked as the machined hummed alive, printing out a second copy of whatever Grayson had scanned, thrilled to have outsmarted the supposed smartest kid in school. " _It's probably nothing. But at least I'll have the satisfaction of an answer..."_

The satisfaction was quickly wiped off her face by the content on the page. This was hardly the goofy short story Dick had promised. 

At the top of the page, two matching illustrations flanked the title - symbols - identical to the one they found in the warehouse. Equally disturbing, was the poem itself:

“Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time,

Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime.

They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed,

Speak not a whispered word of them, or they’ll send Talon for your head.”


	3. Communication

To Alfred’s relief, promptly at 3:00pm that Monday afternoon, Dick trampled through the front door. “Hey Alfie!”

“Hello, Master Dick. Good to see you after this long weekend away. Have an eventful day at school?” 

“Eh. More of the same,” he shrugged, loosening his tie. “Math test was the big highlight of the day.” 

“I see.” As Dick bounded up the stairs, Alfred called up, “Will you be joining Master Bruce for dinner this evening? Or shall I set a plate aside for you?” Dick hesitated at the top of the stairs. He _was_ planning on heading back to Mt. Justice, if only to avoid Bruce a little bit longer. But Alfred’s tone made it clear which was the correct option.

“I- yeah. I’ll be here.”

“Excellent,” Alfred responded, “Dinner will be ready at six.” Dick shot Alfred a thumbs up, headed down the hall, and slipped into his room, clicking the door shut behind him. 

As he shucked off his backpack and Academy uniform, he could feel his school persona slipping away. He sat down at his desk, leaning his head against the back of his chair. He closed his eyes, taking a quick moment for himself, before turning his attention to his school bag.

“Alright.” He pulled out a few textbooks and notebooks, organizing them by subject. As he did so, a loose paper fluttered out onto the floor. It was the Court of Owls scan. After a brief hesitation, Dick shoved the paper back down to the bottom of his bag.

_“Homework now. Investigate later.”_ But then again… 

Technically, he was ahead on his schoolwork. Being hit with the double whammy of dyslexia and learning English as a second language, his professors were more than willing to give him assignments early. Of course, Dick mainly took advantage of this system to stay on top of things whenever he got busy with his “extracurriculars”; but they didn’t need to know that.

He pulled the crumpled paper back out of his bag, eyes narrowing. _"What do they want?"_

* * *

Artemis stared down at her phone, conflicted. 

On one hand, going through with this would mean directly disobeying Batman’s orders - an action she was willing to take, though she feared the consequences. While the Team as a whole had gone against Batman’s wishes on a number of occasions, Artemis _herself_ had never defied the man. And considering he didn’t want any of them knowing so much as the name of the organization she was looking into, a discovery of her investigation could lead to some serious consequences. And if he were to learn how she was going about _acquiring_ her intel... oof.

On the other hand, her classmate was somehow involved in this mess. It was impossible to say whether or not Grayson was _aware_ of what he was mixed up in, (the specifics of which Artemis was unclear on herself) but she knew Grayson was a good kid. If some top secret group of bad guys was trying to involve him in their plans somehow, wasn’t it her responsibility to investigate? And who better to keep the kid from going dark than the superhero who grew up surrounded by criminals?

She layed back on her bed with a groan. _“It’s not like I was trying to investigate behind his back,”_ she thought to herself. _“Grayson was acting sketchy, and I followed my instincts. How was I supposed to know his weird little nerd game would lead back to the same symbol from the crime scene?”_

Once again, she picked up her phone, hovering over the call button. _“Maybe I should talk it over with the team first.”_

_“Why? So they can get in trouble too?”_

“Fuck it.” Before she could change her mind, she pushed the button, chewing on her bottom lip as she listened to the phone ring. She was halfway ready to give up, reaching down to end the call, when someone finally picked up.

“This better be important.”

She took a deep breath. “I need your help.”

* * *

Communication between the two sisters had been sparse, to say the least. When she picked up the phone, Jade was half expecting news of someone’s death. “I need your help,” Artemis asked. That was the last thing Jade expected to hear.

She listened silently as Artemis explained the situation. To her own chagrin, she felt herself getting sucked in. She didn’t really care about saving Artemis’ nerdy little classmate - if he wanted to join some weird secret society, let him. But what exactly was the Court of Owls? Why were they baiting her sister’s team? And what did they want with the kid, anyway? Curiouser and curiouser. 

“Look,” she told her sister, “As far as I know, the Court of Owls is a myth - nothing but a legend, meant to scare kids into behaving. Yknow. Like Batman.”

“But Batman _is_ real,” Artemis responded. 

“Duh,” Jade huffed. “My point being, whoever they are, they keep to themselves, and they cover their tracks well. Whatever ‘evidence’ you found in your investigation? Obviously planted; probably to send a message.”

“What kind of message?” Artemis thought aloud. “To who?”

“How should I know?” Jade scoffed, “Figure it out with your little detective friends.” Softening her voice ever so slightly she conceded, “Look. I’ll ask around, okay? But no promises that I’ll find anything useful.”

“Thanks, Jade. Really.”

“Whatever. You owe me one.” Without another word, Jade hung up the phone, donned her mask, and slipped out into the night.

* * *

Dick felt like ripping his hair out. He had been scouring the web for nearly two hours, and what did he have to show for it?

Nothing.

It was like they didn’t actually exist. Whether doing a quick browser search, or digging through the dark web, all he could find was that same text from the book.

“Beware the Court of Owls…”

_“Yes, I get it. Beware. But why?”_

Dick briefly considered an attempt at hacking either the Justice League’s database, or Bruce’s own private archives, but thought the better of it. Surely Bruce had already programmed something to alert him of any attempts to access those files.

He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by a knock at his door. 

“Dinner will be ready soon,” Alfred called in, as he cracked the door open. “I suggest you wash up and make your way downstairs.”

“Will do! Thanks, Alf.” Upon the butler’s exit, Dick closed his laptop with a sigh. He wasn’t getting anywhere, here. It was time for Plan B.

By the time Dick made it downstairs, Bruce was already seated at the head of the table. Dick sat down beside him, silently loading up his plate, waiting for Bruce to start the conversation.

“How was your weekend?” Bruce awkwardly attempted.

“Before, or after you kicked us off our mission?” Dick snapped, without really intending to. Sure, he was still mad Bruce was keeping information from him. But he knew the current frustration stemmed more from his fruitless investigation. Trying to remedy the situation, he offered, “Aside from… that… it was fine. Everyone had a lot of school work, so it was pretty quiet overall.” 

“I see.” When Bruce did not elaborate, Dick focused down on his plate.

“What were you up to this weekend?” Dick asked, struggling to fill the awkward silence.

“Work.”

“On what?”

“A new project in WayneTech’s medical division.”

“Exciting.” As innocently as he could muster, he added, “Was Batman up to anything fun this weekend?”

“Just some research.”

“On what?”

“Nothing that you need to concern yourself with,” Bruce shut him down.

“Well, if you need any help-” Dick offered.

“I don’t,” Bruce cut him off, ending the conversation. Ouch.

“Y’know, speaking of research,” Dick suddenly began, a malicious pep in his voice, “while working on my research project today, I found a really interesting book.”

“Did you?” Bruce asked, suspicious of the sudden shift. He didn’t know where Dick was going with this, but he was sure it wasn’t anywhere good.

“Yeah. Super old, full of all sorts of short stories, poems, myths. But not the typical Brothers Grimm. These were more localized to the northeast. Y’know, one of the poems even mentioned Gotham by name.”

Bruce’s grip tightened slightly on his fork. “Did it now? What was it about?” 

“Oh I don’t remember. Something about birds? Ravens, maybe. No, that wasn’t it,” Dick knew he was playing a dangerous game, but had no intention of pulling back. “Owls! That’s what the poem was about. Owls.”

“If you have a point to make, then make it,” Bruce dared.

“No point. Just a little anecdote from my day.” Wary, Bruce reached for his glass, taking a sip of water. “But actually, it did get me wondering: what is the Court of Owls?”

Bruce slammed his glass down on the table, as Dick shoved a forkful of asparagus into his mouth, carefully analyzing Bruce’s reaction.

“I told you not to investigate.”

“I wasn’t investigating, I was reading" he quipped. "That’s the danger of books though, isn’t it? Sometimes you learn things.”

“Whatever game you’re playing, knock it off. This is serious.”

“If it’s that serious,” Dick insisted, “then tell us what’s going on. If you keep us in the dark, how are we supposed to be prepared when we face them?”

“You won’t be facing them.”

“What makes them any different from the Light?" Dick continued. "Or Cadmus, or the Joker, or Bane? Why, after all the team has been through, why is _this_ suddenly too much?” 

“The Team has more than proven itself,” Bruce mollified through gritted teeth, “but there are still things out there that you’re not ready to face. Trust me.”

“So I should I sit here, wary of something I know nothing about, just because you say so?”

“I don’t explain myself to you,” Bruce growled.

“If you’re not willing to give me answers, I’ll find them somewhere else,” Dick threatened. “I’m not ten anymore, Bruce. I’m not going to follow you blindly. You trained me better than that. You taught me to question what’s in front of me. To seek out the truth. You say keeping me in the dark is in my best interest, but that’s not your call to make.”

“As your legal guardian, it _is_ my call,” Bruce snapped. “Understand, Dick, I’m trying to protect you.”

“It feels more like you’re trying to protect yourself.” Chair scraping against the hardwood floor, Dick left the table, storming out of the room.

“Where are you going?” Bruce demanded.

“Patrol. Or am I banned from that, too?” Without waiting for a response, Dick made his way down to the Cave, hopped onto his bike, and sped out into the streets of Gotham.

* * *

“Master,” Cheshire greeted, bowing deeply before the man. Ra’s al Goul nodded back, motioning for the young woman to rise.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“It’s my sister - she’s come to me requesting information from the Shadows.”

“How curious,” Ra’s folded his hands together, pointer fingers pressed to his chin, “that she would go to you rather than her mentor, or the Justice League.”

“It seems Batman barred her and her little team from any further investigation.”

“So she goes behind his back, seeking help from those she considers her enemies?” he summarized, puzzled. 

“Which is why I came to you,” Cheshire finished. “If it’s important enough for her to even consider asking me, I figure it’s something you’d want to know about.”

“Indeed. I’m sure we can use this to our advantage,” Ra’s confirmed. “What does she seek information on?”

“The Court of Owls.” 

“I see.” His eyes narrowed, shifting to either side. “Come inside,” he beckoned. Cheshire followed him through the Shadows’ base, into an unassuming office. He sat at the desk, typing away at the computer in front of him, as Cheshire leaned against the wall, arms crossed. She tried to remember if she had ever seen al Goul use a computer before. Watching him now felt... wrong, somehow.

After a few more clicks, Ra’s plugged a flash drive into the computer, and turned his attention back to Cheshire. “You said she’s investigating against Batman’s wishes - I assume she’s motivated by something stronger than teenage rebellion?”

“She thinks some kid at her school’s mixed up with ‘em. Wants to keep him out of trouble, or somethin’.”

“School? How odd. They typically recruit from -” he stopped, something clicking in his mind. “Did she mention the student’s name?”

“Just a last name. Grayson, I think.”

Ra’s sighed, rubbing at his temples. “I suspected as much.” 

“You know the kid?” Cheshire asked, brow raised.

“As do you - he is the Batman’s protegee.” Sensing but disregarding her surprise, he continued, “I would refrain from sharing that information with your sister - I suspect she has yet to be informed. We will allow the boy wonder this courtesy.”

“Otherwise,” Ra’s finished, removing the flashdrive from his computer, “she is welcome to everything I know.” He handed over the flashdrive, Cheshire nodding her respects. “I’ll admit, it’s not much; regardless, I hope she finds it useful. The success of her mission could prove vital to our own.” 

“Keep an eye on the situation,” he instructed. “Grayson is an intelligent child, but a child nonetheless. If the Court is able to sway him to their side… Well. Make sure it doesn’t come to that.”

* * *

Patrol was frustratingly slow. All Robin wanted was something to hit, and yet for once, it seemed that all of Gotham was on their best behavior. 

After hiding his bike in an alleyway, he made his way up a fire escape, onto the building’s roof. Without any particular destination in mind, he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, scanning the streets below for any signs of danger. He was about to turn in for the night, when he heard a scream off in the distance. 

Running towards the sound, he looked down to find a group of muggers attacking a young couple. The man was down, two goons kicking him around. The third mugger, presumably the leader, held the woman from behind, a knife pressed to her throat. 

Without a second thought, Robin jumped into the alley, landing on the one mugger’s shoulders. He springboarded off of him, flipping into the second, landing a kick to the face. Both goons down for the count. “Drop the knife, and let her go,” Robin ordered their leader. 

He half complied. Pushing the woman to the side, he lunged at Robin, slashing with his knife. Robin flipped out of range. As the man lunged for him again, Robin ducked under his arm, and pushed on his back, using the man’s momentum to send him flying. He fell forwards, knife skidding out of his hand, across the alley. 

Crisis averted, he turned to the woman, who was helping her partner to stand. “Are you alrig-?”

“Look out!” the woman suddenly shouted, pointing behind him. He turned in time to find a fourth mugger he had missed aiming a gun straight at his chest - but her warning was too late. Robin braced for impact, as a gunshot rang out.

In the deafening silence that followed, he realized: he wasn’t hurt. He looked back at the goon, who had dropped his gun, screaming and clutching at the bloody stump where his hand once was.

_“But who..?”_ Robin looked up just in time to catch a shadowy figure up on the rooftop. Watching. 

The silence was broken by sirens in the distance. Maybe a block or two away. Undoubtedly whoever was on duty had heard the gunshot. He turned back to the woman, silently checking in. Shakily, she nodded at him. They were okay. Good. As she and her partner stumbled out to the mouth of the alley to meet the police, Robin headed back up to the rooftop, searching.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the glint of armor. Turning, he spotted the shadowy figure once more, and bounded towards him. He followed him over rooftops, through alleyways, over fences, just barely keeping up. 

“Who are you?” Robin called out in frustration. Robin skidded to a stop as, to his surprise, the man turned to face him. He wore a black and gold mask over his face, resembling an owl.

“Talon,” he greeted.

“You’re with the Court of Owls,” Robin realized, eyes widening. 

“I am.” Taking a step closer, Talon added, “It’s good to finally meet you, Richard.”

“Robin,” he insisted, tensing up. “My name is Robin.”

“Robin. Yes, of course,” he agreed with a nod.

He had so many questions, he didn’t even know where to begin. “What is the Court of Owls? What do you want with me? Why are you-”

“So inquisitive,” Talon cut in, voice light with laughter. “Patience, Robin. You’ll have your answers. All in good time.”

Before Robin could say another word, Talon threw a handful of smoke pellets into the air. Robin tried to follow him through the fog, but by the time the smoke cleared, Talon was gone.

“Thanks for saving my life, I guess,” he muttered under his breath. A sudden beep from his communicator pulled him from his stupor. 

“Robin. Report your position.” Batman’s gruff voice checked in over the radio.

“Midtown. I’m headed back now.”

Dropping down to the street below, he made his way back to his bike, pulling the makeshift cover off the top. Resting on the seat of his bike was a small, gold device, with a note:

“When the time is right.” -T

He glanced around the alley, staring into the shadows. Without a word, Robin pocketed the device, and made his way back to Wayne Manor.


	4. Chapter 4

Despite the turbulent start, the rest of Dick’s week was outright.... _Normal_. The team had no missions, school kept him busy, and the only masked figure he found lurking around his patrol route was Batman. Even his fight with Bruce had more or less boiled over. While there were still hard feelings on either side, both were reluctant to reopen that can of worms.

Dick still had a billion questions about the Court of Owls, but meeting Talon had largely satiated his need for immediate answers. Absentmindedly, he fiddled with the gold disk in his pocket. He had thoroughly inspected the device, checking for trackers. But to his surprise, the device was clean. Over the week he had gotten into the habit of keeping the device on his person at all times. Mainly to keep Alfred or Bruce from accidentally discovering it. Partly because he enjoyed carrying this secret. It was strangely comforting, having access to information that Batman did not. 

It was equally comforting to know that, in relation to the Court of Owls, the ball was in his court. The device Talon left for him was a simple communication device. However, it only worked one way; The Court could not communicate with him - not unless he chose to contact them first. 

Whether he would contact them or not he had yet to decide. But there would be time for all of that later. Right now, it was time to enjoy a nice, normal weekend with his best pal.

As he stepped out of the Zeta Tube in Central City, he was met with a bone crushing hug. “Dude! You made it!”

“‘Course I made it,” he replied, playfully pushing Wally off of him. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

“Good,” Wally replied, slinging an arm over Dick’s shoulder. “Because honestly, I think Aunt Iris is more excited to see you than I am.” As they walked through the streets, they traded stories about their week, joking and laughing all the way to Wally’s home away from home.

As they walked through the front door, Iris called out, “Is that my favorite nephew walking through the door?”

“Yup!” Wally shouted back. “And I’m here too!” 

As Iris entered the room, she made her way over to Wally, enveloping him in a hug. She turned to Dick, who shyly waved. “Oh, you know better than that,” she teased. “Get over here.” Dick obliged, joining in the hug. "So, you boys up to anything interesting today?"

"Just the usual shenanigans," Wally shrugged.

"Mario Kart and cartoons, solid plans," Iris approved with a smirk. "Barry's working late, so it's just the three of us for dinner."

"Which job?" Wally asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"The boring one," she confirmed. "I've gotta go get some work done. Have fun you two!"

"Thanks, Iris!" Dick sweetly called, as she left the room. He turned to Wally, an evil glint in his eye. "So. You ready to get your butt kicked?"

"As if," Wally scoffed. "You're going down, Wonder Bread."

And so ensued their usual chaos - a winner takes all tournament featuring every level in the game. Inevitably, as it always did, after the first few rounds their tournament devolved to chucking red shells at each other, repeatedly pushing each other off the edge and vying for 11th place. Eventually, the sabotage on screen led to in person sabotage.

"Take that!" Dick laughed, shoving Wally, who was blocking the screen.

"Dude, you are so gonna get it!" he responded, trying to shove Dick's controller out of his hands. Dick scurried back out of reach, perching on the arm of the couch. He held his kicking leg out to the side, ready to block Wally as needed. However, Wally was not deterred, using his super speed to get on Dick's side and tackle him to the ground.

Game forgotten at this point, the two play wrestled back and forth in an unceremonious heap on the floor. Wally was about to pin his friend, when he heard something scatter across the floor. Distracted from their 'fight', Wally reached for the lost object.

“Ooooh, what’s this?” he asked, holding up Talon's communicator.

“It’s nothing,” Dick responded a little too quickly, reaching for the device. Wally darted to the other side of the living room, examining the disk.

“Wally-”

“If it’s nothing, why are you being so weird about it?” he joked.

“Because it’s none of your business.” Again, he tried to grab the disk back, but Wally continued to play keep away.

“For real, dude, it looks like… a fidget spinner? A locket? Ahhh, I get it - is it for your lady friend? Barbara?” he laughed as Dick lunged for him, speeding across the room once more, putting the dining room table between them. 

“Wally, give it back!"

"If you want it back, you're gonna have to catch me first!"

"Wally, I'm serious. Knock it off!” There was a sharp edge to his voice that made Wally do a double take. He thought they were just goofing around, but Dick sounded outright panicked. 

Confused, but not wanting to further antagonize his friend, Wally slid the disk across the table, moving his hands away. He watched as Dick picked up the device, visibly relaxing now that it was back in his possession.

A tense moment passed between them, before Dick broke the silence.

“Sorry for snapping. That was… uncalled for.”

“I took it too far,” Wally shrugged, concern in his eyes. Dick did not respond, guiltily staring down at the disk in his hands. He had forgotten all about it. Putting a hand on his shoulder, Wally reached out, “Hey, is everything okay?”

He paused, struggling with himself. “It’s.... The truth is-”

“Dinner’s ready!” Iris suddenly called from the kitchen. “Wally, come help me bring everything to the table!”

“Be there in a second!” he yelled, before turning his attention back to Dick. But the boy wonder was gone. _“Probably already in the kitchen helping Aunt Iris,”_ Wally thought. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he made his way to the kitchen. He'd have to follow up later.

* * *

While Wally had hoped to talk with Dick right after dinner, things kept popping up. Barry came home, chatty as ever. Then Iris offered ice cream, then Barry suggested they all play a game, which turned into three games, and so on.

But now it was finally just the two of them, lounging about in Wally's room.

"Hey Dick?"

"Yeah Walls?" he asked, as he looked through Wally's DVD collection.

“You were about to say something earlier. Before dinner?”

“Oh... Yeah.”

“Anything you want to talk about?” Wally asked, sitting down besides his pal. Dick didn’t respond, staring down at the floor. “‘Cause, you know you can tell me anything, right? I’ve got your back. No matter what.”

After a long moment, Dick turned to Wally, and asked, “You remember that time I brought some of the team to Haly’s Circus?”

“For your unofficial mission? Sure,” Wally nodded, not knowing where this was headed. 

“You asked me why I didn’t bring you along, and I told you it was because I didn’t want you questioning my objectivity.”

“But, as I pointed out to you then, and will remind you now,” Wally nudged, “that’s what a best pal’s for.”

“Yeah,” Dick smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “That being said,” he pulled out the disk from earlier, and placed it in Wally’s hand, “I need your help.”

Wally looked over the device, examining the details. “So it’s a communicator,” he mumbled, half to himself. He continued running his hands over the surface, noting the etched designs. Eyebrows furrowed, he paused. “That’s the symbol we found at the warehouse.” Dick nodded, an even expression on his face. 

“When you and Artemis got back, you were hiding something. I never got the chance to ask you about it.” He held the disk up to Dick. “Was this it?”

“Not quite.” Dick shifted his body so he was knee to knee with Wally, looking him dead in the eyes. “What I’m about to tell you - promise you won’t tell anyone? Not Batman, the League, not even the Team.”

Suddenly nervous, he responded, “Depends on what it is. What-?”

“Please,” Dick pleaded. “Not forever - just… for now. At least promise you won’t tell Batman?”

“I’ll promise, but I won’t pinky swear. Fair?” Ever since a baby Robin had made a young Kid Flash pinky swear he wouldn’t tell anyone his secret identity, it had become somewhat of a _thing_ for them. Pinky swears were unbreakable; a promise, a bit less so.

“Deal.” With that, Dick told him everything. From the note, to his fight with Bruce, all the way to the meeting with Talon. The entire time Dick spoke, Wally sat silently, taking everything in. When Dick had finished his tale, he looked to Wally, waiting for his reaction. “So? What are you thinking?”

Wally paused, mulling things over. “Honestly… I think you should tell Batman.”

“Hear me out,” he quickly added, seeing the look on his friend’s face. “You came to me because you knew I’d be willing to call you out. Right? So let me call you out.”

Dick nodded, trying to appear calm and relaxed, though his clenched jaw and steely blue eyes told a different story. 

“Let’s take it from the beginning,” Wally began, “Our mission. Place was wiped totally clean, besides that tape. For all that's happened so far to have taken place, they had to have been counting on us finding that symbol in the footage. But if they were trying to get a message across to us, it didn’t work - because we had no idea what that symbol meant.”

“No, but Batman did,” Dick pointed out.

“Bingo,” Wally pointed. “Meaning the original message wasn’t meant for us - it was for Batman. But then,” Wally continued, “right after, they leave a clue specifically for you. A clue addressed to Dick Grayson, not to Robin. Now what does that do, aside from the obvious ‘hey look at us we know your secret!’ thing? It keeps you from sharing what you found with the rest of the team.”

“And,” Wally added with a dramatic flourish, “since they had to be hiding somewhere in or around the warehouse to plant the note for you, I’m sure they overheard your conversation with Batman. They know you’re not getting any info from him. A fact I’m sure they confirmed when you met Talon. You’re completely isolated in your investigation. Now, the only way for you to get any information is by going directly through them.”

“Do you have a point to make, Walls?” Dick bristled, realizing where Wally was headed. 

“ _My point_ is this: I don’t know who they are. I don’t know what they want. But their entire plan to get revenge on Batman, or recruit you, or whatever - _hinges_ on you not telling Batman a thing. If you want to take them down, you _have_ to tell Batman.”

“Who says I _want_ to take them down?” Dick blurted out. 

Wally narrowed his eyes. “Dick, they’re the bad guys.”

“We don’t know that,” he pushed back. “All we know is that Batman doesn’t trust them.”

“Isn’t that good enough?”

“Wally, he doesn’t trust _anyone._ ” Dick stood up, pacing the room. “You know he has files, right? For ‘just in case’. Files on how to take down every member of the League. Everyone on the team! Dude, he has a file on how to take _me_ down.”

“Jeez. He have a file on himself, too?” Wally joked, attempting to play off his discomfort. 

“YES!” Dick yelled, exasperated. “Except that one, he had _me_ write.” 

“Alright. The man trusts no one, fair point,” Wally conceded. “But I still think it’s worth keeping in mind that we have _no idea_ who these guys are. And the way they've conducted themselves so far kinda screams evil masterminds. Batman lets us go up against guys like the Joker without batting an eye - pun fully intended - but doesn’t want us anywhere near the Court of Owls? He's gotta have a reason.”

“Well I think it’s worth keeping in mind that, if we so choose, we have access to answers,” Dick rebutted, picking up the communicator.

Wally wearily eyed the communicator. “I don’t like this, Dick.”

“It’s not ideal, but what choice do I have? If I tell Batman about any of this, he’ll freak. Prolly’ll take my mask, ground me for life, and lock me up on the Watchtower ‘for my own good.’”

“Y’know, there’s always the third option of letting things alone, for once. Not investigating. Not jumping into danger. Just, like, staying alive, and forgetting this whole thing ever happened?”

“If you think that’s an option you don’t know me at all,” Dick smirked. "I'm caught in the middle of this thing. I need to know why. If it were you, wouldn't you be curious?” Wally begun to waver. “Just one meeting. In a public space. I’ll let you know exactly where and when we meet, I’ll check in, put a tracker on, the works.”

Wally bit his lip, avoiding eye contact. “If anything goes wrong, you can call in Batman, the League, the whole Gotham PD, if you want. You can sit there and tell me ‘I told you so’ a billion times, and I’ll tell you you’re right, and you can laugh as Batman reads me the Riot Act. All I'm asking for is a chance - just _one chance_ to learn the truth.”

With a groan, Wally agreed. “Fine. But the second things start going south, I’m telling Batman.”

“I knew you’d understand,” Dick smiled.

“Just... don’t make me regret this.”

And with Wally's blessing, Dick activated the device.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! To those of you who have left kudos and comments, they are greatly appreciated! If you have any predictions, feedback, commentary, or critiques, let a girl know below!


	5. A Convergence in Gotham

It was an easy patrol for Artemis that night - a few robberies, an attempted murder. Typical crime alley shenanigans. Nothing she couldn’t handle. Checking the time, she decided it was time to head in for the night. Batman would soon be heading out for his own late night patrol, and she tended to plan her activity around his. She had nothing against the man, but somehow, running into him on patrol was never not awkward.

Making her way home, Artemis quietly slid open her bedroom window, crawling inside. As she closed the window behind her, a voice called out.

“Knock knock.” Artemis spun around, aiming her crossbow at the intruder, only to find herself face to face with Cheshire.

“Oh, it’s you,” she breathed, lowering her weapon.

“Well don’t sound so excited to see me,” Cheshire cracked, lounging across her old bed. She removed her mask, tussling a hand through her hair.

“I just didn’t expect you to _actually_ come here,” Artemis admitted. “I thought you were on the other side of the globe.”

“I had a change of plans,” Jade shrugged.

“Does mom know you’re here?” Artemis asked, leaning against her dresser.

“No,” Jade answered, somewhat defensively. “And if you want your intel, we’re gonna keep it that way.”

“So you did find something,” Artemis confirmed, pulling back her mask.

“Well _duh._ Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t?” She held up a flash drive between her fingers. “Straight from the Demon’s Head himself - he sends his regards.”

“You went to Ra’s al Ghul?” Artemis blanched.

“Of course, who else? I wasn’t gonna waste my time asking any of the other Shadows - if I don’t know, they don’t know. Besides, you should be thanking me - he personally downloaded everything he’s got on the Court of Owls onto this thing.” As Artemis reached for the flash drive, Jade pulled her arm back, keeping it out of reach. “There’s just one catch.”

“There always is,” Artemis sighed. “What is he looking for? A favor? Information in return?”

“Please, what could Ra’s possibly want from you?” Jade scoffed. “All he asked in return was for me to keep an eye on your investigation.”

It seemed almost too good to be true. “That’s it?”

“That’s it. For whatever reason, he’s taken interest in that Grayson kid. He wants you to succeed. So I stick around, make sure you don’t mess this thing up, and in exchange, you’ve got the Shadows’ resources at your disposal.”

“I don’t _need_ the Shadows’ resources,” Artemis protested.

“No, just their intel.”

With a groan, Artemis agreed. “Fine. You’re in. But this doesn’t mean we actually have to investigate everything together, right?”

“Of course not. What do you think we are, the Hardy Boys?” Artemis breathed a sigh of relief. “Here’s how this is gonna work - we look over this flash drive together, and we go our separate ways. If you find anything useful, contact me. And I’ll do the same. Got it?”

While annoyed that Jade was taking charge of her investigation, she didn’t have much room to argue. “.. Got it. Let’s just get this over with.” She sat down beside her sister, booting up her laptop. She plugged in the drive, opened the first file, and the two got to work.

* * *

Robin stood waiting, eyes darting across the rooftop. He was early for his meeting, and anticipating Talon’s arrival. 

_“Are you sure you want to go through with this?”_ Wally’s voice chirped in his earpiece. He glanced over to the building he knew Kid Flash to be camped out on, and silently nodded. There was no turning back now. 

In this brief moment of distraction, Talon had made his way onto the roof. “Robin,” he called in greeting. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise,” the boy wonder agreed.

“Now, I know you have many questions,” Talon began, getting down to business. “My hope for tonight is to answer those questions; to give you insight into who we are, why we exist, and how we operate." He glanced over at Robin, checking in. When Robin said nothing, he continued. "To put it simply, the Court of Owls is a secret society; it’s membership composed of the Gotham elite. Politicians, doctors, artists, entrepreneurs. Those who hold influence. The Court’s reach extends far outside the city limits. However, our priority is and always will be Gotham City.”

Pacing as he spoke, Talon continued, “The Court was created at the birth of this city. Our purpose is simple: to protect Gotham. To rid the city of those who would harm her, and to shape her from the shadows. We enact change from outside the spotlight; nudging things in the right direction in the hopes of shaping a brighter future.”

“If your goal is to influence Gotham for the better, why do everything in secret?” Robin asked.

“For similar reasons to those of you and your mentor, I suppose,” Talon responded, leaning back on the railing surrounding the roof’s edge. “There are always those who will resist change; that will do anything to maintain the status quo. Unfortunately, the status quo in Gotham tends to be… unfavorable. As I’m sure you’re well aware. You wear a mask to protect your identity - to protect your loved ones from those who would do you harm; we stay anonymous - nothing but a myth - to do the same.”

“So why reveal yourself now?” Robin posed. 

“The Court has kept a watchful eye on you for quite some time now - as we do all exceptional talents. When one stands out above the rest, the Court reveals itself to them.” 

“I don’t understand.”

Talon paused, collecting his thoughts. “There’s not much more I can say while we’re out in the open like this. I do apologize.”

“I understand.” 

_“I understand that you’re trying to bait me into going somewhere with you,”_ Robin added in his head.

“However, there is a safehouse nearby,” Talon offered. “We can speak more freely there.”

_“Wally will kill you.”_

_“But he has like eight trackers on me, plus a visual. He can just follow me there.”_

_“Regardless, Wally is totally going to murder you.”_

“...Lead the way.”

* * *

Exiting out of the final file, Artemis turned to her sister. “There’s not much here to go off of.”

“It’s more than you had before,” Jade shrugged. The pair had spent the better part of an hour going over the files from Ra’s al Ghul, but were struggling to find anything they could use as a jumping point. While there was certainly good information included, the majority was vague, often conjecture; whispers of whereabouts and plans, hints to what they were up to. But nothing particularly concrete. 

On the bright side, she now had a pretty good idea about why the Court was going after Grayson. _“Maybe that’s a good place to start…”_ Artemis scrolled through the files, looking to revisit one, when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a red and yellow blur streaking past. Artemis scrambled to her window, craning her neck to see further down the street. “Was that-?”

With a glint in her eye, Jade slipped her mask back on. “Only one way to find out.”

“Oh no, you’re not coming with me,” Artemis shut her down, pulling her cowl back over her face. “If Batman sees you-”

“I can handle tall dark and brooding just fine.”

Before Artemis had the chance to protest, a voice called from the hallway. “Artemis? Are you home?” A dangerous gleam came to her eye.

“Don’t you _dare,_ ” Jade hissed.

“Then _go away._ ” Jade doubled down, arms petulantly crossed. Loudly, Artemis called out, “I’m in my room, Mom! And guess who else is here?”

“ _Fine, you win._ Go find your stupid boy toy, I won’t follow.” With a smirk, Artemis watched as her normally calm and composed sister scrambled to hide. As the doorknob rattled open, she quickly grabbed her phone, sitting innocently on her bed. 

“Artemis?” her mother called, wheeling herself into the room. “Who else is here? You better not have a boy in your room.”

“No, mom, no boys” she assured, holding up her phone. “I meant someone was on the phone - Jade just called!” she enthused with wicked glee.

“Really? That’s unlike her. I hope everything is alright.” Wheeling closer, she yelled in the general direction of the phone, “Jade, are you still there?”

“She had to hang up - her phone was dying,” Artemis covered. “She just called to say ‘hi’. But I’m about to head out, so she said she’d call you back in a few minutes.” She smiled, even as she felt Jade punch her leg from under the bed.

“I better go grab my phone then, so I don’t miss her call.” She turned her wheelchair around, heading for the door. “Don’t stay out too late! And come home alive!” 

“You got it, mom,” Artemis agreed, closing the door behind her. Once the door clicked shut, she instinctively ducked, narrowly dodging the shuriken thrown at her head. “Have a nice chat,” she waved, and headed into the heart of Gotham.

* * *

_“Geez, I know he’s known for his whole ninja schtick, but this disappearing act is really getting old!”_ Wally thought to himself, as he ran down the streets of Gotham. He was distracted from his stakeout for hardly two minutes, quickly stopping an attempted robbery. And somehow in that time, Robin had managed to go MIA. Signal tracker off, comm offline.

If Robin didn’t show up in the next five minutes, he was fully prepared to call in the entire League. Though, seeing as Robin disappeared on _his_ watch, he was hoping it wouldn’t come down to that. “I swear, I’m gonna kill him,” Wally muttered to himself. 

“Kill who?” someone asked him from behind. He jumped in surprise, turning to find a smirking Artemis, hand resting on her hip. 

“Artemis! U-Hey, babe! What are you doing here?” He not so casually leaned against the alley wall.

Eyes narrowing, she answered. “I live here. What are _you_ doing here? I thought you were hanging out with Robin in Central this weekend?”

“I was! Am. We _were_ in Central, but now we’re here. You know how he gets - can’t keep him away from this city,” Wally chuckled, rubbing at the back of his neck. 

Artemis raised an eyebrow in response. “And where is Robin now?” Wally shrugged, avoiding eye contact. “Well did he run off, or is he missing?”

“Y’know, that is a _fantastic_ question that I _really_ _wish_ I knew the answer to,” Wally leveled with her.

“Did you try his communicator?” Artemis asked.

“Yeah, of course I tried his communicator,” he scoffed, waving his own in front of him.

“Not the team one, his Gotham one,” she clarified.

“His… what?” Wally stared blankly at her. 

“Yeah, y’know,” she pulled a sleek black comm out of her belt, adjusting the channel. “He uses this one in Gotham - something about a private channel... better reception in the city? I don’t know. Robin gave me one when I started patrolling around here.”

“Think Rob will have that one online?” Kid Flash asked.

“He should,” Artemis nodded. “As far as I know he keeps it on 24/7. For emergencies, or if Batman needs hi-”

“Wait, Batman’s on that line?” Wally blurted.

“Well duh, it’s meant for Gotham, isn’t it? So Batman, Robin, me, and the new girl.” She reached for the call button, when, in a flash, the communicator was snatched out of her hand. “Wha-? Wally! What are you-?”

“If Batman’s on that line, we _can’t_ use it.” Artemis glared at him, folding her arms across her chest.

“What did you get into?” she demanded.

“I-! Look, it’s not my fault!” Wally protested, “I said it was a bad idea! It was totally-”

“-my fault,” a third voice chimed in. Both Kid Flash and Artemis jumped back, as Robin dropped down into the alley. “Had a low battery, forgot to switch it out - my comm died without me realizing. But I knew something was off when I realized I hadn’t heard Wally blabbing in my ear for over five minutes,” he explained with a smirk. “I came looking for you as soon as I realized. Hope you didn’t worry too much.” 

The lie rolled so smoothly off his tongue, Wally almost believed it. Almost. Before he could interrogate his friend, Artemis beat him to the punch. 

“I’m not going to waste my time asking stupid questions; nothing either of you have said adds up. You split up while hanging out, in a city you’re not supposed to be in, doing something you don’t want Batman to know about, and you’re trying to cover it up with blatant bullshit. So spill. What are you up to?” The boys shared a look, Wally trying to gauge how much Robin was willing to share, Robin trying to gauge how much Wally had _already_ inadvertently shared. 

Tugging a hand through his hair, Robin turned to Artemis. “I’ve... been doing a bit of research. Behind Batman’s back. In relation to our last mission.” Artemis’ ears perked up at the mention. _“So he’s been investigating too…"_ “Beyond that, I can’t say much - not here, at least,” he hastily added, seeing the look on her face.

Eyes narrow, Artemis glanced between the two boys. Robin had the dictionary definition of a poker face on, while Wally squirmed uncomfortably. “Fine,” she finally decided. “You’ll tell me everything after training tomorrow. And I mean _everything_ ,” she added turning to the Boy Wonder. “If you keep me in the dark, I'll bring Batman _out_ of the dark. Got it?” 

“Noted,” Robin tersely agreed.

“And you know,” Artemis added, throwing him a bone, “You’re not the only one who’s investigated. Play nice tomorrow, and who knows? You might just get yourself a new lead.”

“Wait-! You too?” Wally choked out. 

Artemis playfully leaned in to Wally, giving him a quick kiss. “See you tomorrow!” she threw over her shoulder, as she climbed up the fire escape, and disappeared into the night.

After a brief pause, Kid Flash turned to Robin. “This is _not_ how I thought this night would go.”

“No kidding,” Robin acknowledged. Without another word, the duo made their way to the Zeta transport, and headed back to Central City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the wonderful feedback! It's truly appreciated. My brain is the type to start thinking up 80 different stories at once, so seeing that people are into this story helps motivate me to keep writing it. So thanks again! Hope your day/evening/3am is going great! :)


	6. Improv

“So, how much have you two figured out?” Artemis asked, pulling up a seat. As planned, Artemis, Wally, and Robin met up in one of the rec rooms after training to compare notes. After how strange the boys were acting the prior evening, Artemis was eager to get down to business. 

“Ladies first,” Robin redirected. 

“Fine,” she agreed, unphased. “Here’s what I’ve got so far,” she began, flipping through a notebook. “They’re called the Court of Owls - they operate mainly in Gotham, but they keep out of the limelight; not sure what their overall goal is, but they’re big enough of a threat that the Shadows are keeping an eye on them.”

“The Shadows? How would you..?” Wally asked, slowly piecing things together. “Wait, you went to the _Shadows_ for intel?!”

“Duh,” she shrugged, showing no signs of remorse. “I wasn’t gonna do something crazy like hack into the League’s servers.”

“Yeah, because _that’s_ the crazy thing to do,” Robin smirked.

With a gleam in her eye, Artemis responded, “You have your methods, I have mine.” As Artemis continued on, Robin started to space out. She knew about as much as he would have expected, going to the Shadows for help. While there wasn’t any new information per se, it was interesting to note that everything Talon had told him about the organization matched up with what Artemis had learned. And it was a relief that none of her intel had anything to do with him. 

While Talon had been adamant that the Court was interested in Richard Grayson, it would raise way fewer questions if Artemis were to think they wanted _Robin_ instead. He’d have to fib a bit about the note, but in the grand scheme of things, no harm no foul.

“... and I think one of my classmates might be involved.” 

“Wait, what?” Robin suddenly jolted back to reality. Seeing the suspicion creeping onto Artemis’ face, he amended, “Sorry, I got distracted. What was that last part?”

With a roll of her eyes, Artemis repeated herself. “This kid I go to school with - Dick Grayson? I was helping him look for a book the other day, and he was being really weird about it. Once he found what he was looking for, he copied it and put everything away before I had a chance to see it. Something felt off, so after he left, I reprinted the page he scanned, and found this.” She pulled the crumpled copy out of her pocket, smoothing it out on the table. “That symbol at the top of the page? Same one from the surveillance cameras on our last mission.”

While on the outside he calmly nodded, internally, Robin wanted to repeatedly smack his head against a wall. _“Since when is there a reprint button?”_

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence?” Wally jumped in, sensing Robin’s sudden shift.

Artemis shook her head. “I don’t think so. He said a ‘friend’ sent him to find that book - _this poem_ specifically. He tried to pass it off as some sort of game, but the whole thing just felt _bizarre_ , even for him. Plus, it gets weirder.”

“How so?” Robin asked, straight faced. 

“The next time I was working in the library, I went back to the reference room and found that book - I wanted to take a look at the original copy, see if there was anything that didn’t show up in the scan. But it was gone.”

“What, like someone ripped it out?” Wally asked, glancing over at Robin. 

“No. There were no tear marks, or anything. The poem just… wasn’t there. Like it didn’t exist.”

“Weird,” Wally shivered. “Definitely freaky, and your friend sounds like a total weirdo, but it still doesn’t mean that the kid is involved, does it?”

“No,” Robin cut in, to Wally’s surprise. “He’s definitely involved.” Wally searched his friend’s face, trying to figure out what he was doing. “Anything else you wanted to add, Arty?”

“I’ve got one more thing about Grayson - something that ties him to the Court. But I’ll save that for later." Pointing at the boy wonder with her pencil, she added, "It’s your turn to talk.” 

“Sure thing,” Robin agreed. “My investigation started out pretty slow - it’s difficult to get your hands on information that Batman doesn’t want you knowing about. Difficult, but not impossible. Using my own methods, I ended up learning, essentially, the same information as you. That’s when I ran into their Talon.”

“So you’ve had contact with the Court of Owls?” Artemis blanched.

“Indirectly,” Robin admitted. He shifted in his seat so he was fully addressing Artemis, leaving a confused Wally in his peripheral. “Earlier this week I went out on a solo patrol. Some goon got the drop on me, pulled a gun. But Talon stepped in and saved me. I followed after him, but he wasn't interested in talking. All I got was his name, and then he disappeared."

"Jumping ahead to last night," Robin continued, "I caught Wally up to speed. We decided to head over to Gotham to do some investigating. Turns out there was a meeting going down last night between Talon and Grayson."

"So he is involved," Artemis breathed, half prideful that her instincts had been correct, half sick to her stomach.

Robin nodded, ignoring all of Wally's attempts to catch his eye. "We were able to catch a good chunk of their meeting - seemed like he was spelling out the basics to the kid. Who they are, what they do. Putting their best food forward, of course." Tapping a few buttons on his holocomputer, Robin added, "I just forwarded you the specifics to look over later." Artemis nodded in confirmation. "Anyway, at this point, Talon and Grayson moved to a secondary location, and Wally and I were separated."

"You mean you ran off and ditched me," Wally interjected. 

Unraveling a bit, Robin sheepishly apologized, "I honestly _did_ think you were right behind me."

"You slipped off while I was distracted," Wally corrected, not letting his friend off the hook.

"Regardless..." Artemis loudly intervened, trying to keep the peace.

"I followed after Talon," Robin continued. "Eventually he led Grayson to what appeared to be his safehouse, where he explained his intentions for Grayson."

"Which are what, exactly?" Artemis pressed.

Robin paused, carefully choosing his words. "From what I gathered, they don't want him _on_ the Court. But they are interested in his involvement with the organization. As someone who helps bring about their vision for Gotham City." 

"Oh yeah?" Wally started, "And what did Grayson say to that?"

"I don't know," Robin shrugged, to Wally's annoyance, "His back was to me, I didn't hear what he said. That's about when I realized my comm had shut down. So I left, and that's when I found the two of you."

"Wait-" Artemis backtracked, "you just left him there? With a masked stranger. Alone." 

"Grayson can handle himself," Robin brushed off. "And," he added, in hopes of appeasing Artemis, "After we split up last night, Wally and I checked up on him - he got back to Wayne Manor, safe and sound."

Artemis turned to Wally for confirmation. "We did," he tersely agreed. "He's fine."

"Great," she sighed. "He's an idiot for getting involved, and in way over his head, but he's a good kid, and he's been through enough. I don't want to see anything bad happen to him."

Robin just hummed in response. "Anyway, that's all I've got on the situation," he concluded. "So Artemis," he turned to the girl in question, "you said you had one more thing?"

"Oh-hold on," she interrupted, scrambling for her ringing phone. "Hello?" The boys awkwardly waited, listening to the voice yelling from the other side of the phone. Artemis pulled the phone away from her ear. "Mom, I can hear you, jeez. What do you-?" As her mom continued to yell from the other end of the line, Artemis rolled her eyes, making her way for the door. "I'll be right back," she mouthed, heading out to the other end of the hall. 

As soon as Artemis was out of earshot, Wally turned on Robin. "Don't ever put me in a position like that again."

"Wally I-"

“All you had to say was that the note was addressed to Robin. But no! We get here and you do - _whatever_ that was, then put me in a spot where I had to choose between lying to my girlfriend or ratting out my best friend. Not cool.” 

"I'm sorry that I put you on the spot. I was... caught off guard. Grayson was sloppy in the library, and as a result, I had to improvise.”

“Wha-? You do realize you _are_ Dick Grayson, right?”

“Not right now I’m not.” Robin sighed, rubbing at his temples. “I can’t afford to be.”

“I hate when you compartmentalize like this,” Wally groaned. “You can’t just blame everything on your alter ego.”

“I’m not trying to," Robin protested. "I know. **I** screwed up. **I** put you in a tough position. I take full responsibility, and I’m _sorry_. But right now, splitting myself in half is the only way to keep everything straight. I wasn't counting on Artemis knowing that Grayson is involved. So did I bend the truth a little? Yes. But aside from saying we checked up on Grayson at the end of the night, everything I said was technically true."

"Careful Rob," Wally spit, "your Batman is showing."

"That's not fair," Robin admonished. "Look, I didn't go in _intending_ to mislead her. But If Artemis knows both Robin and Grayson are involved, it’s only a matter of time before-"

" _That’s_ what this is about?" Wally scoffed. "Your secret ID?"

"She sees us both every day," Robin pressed on. "Vastly different personalities, slightly different accents, but ultimately, the same person. She would've pieced it together."

"So what?" Wally voiced. "Would that really be such a bad thing?"

Swallowing back a sigh, Robin replied, "You know that's not my call to make." Wally did not respond, stubbornly turning away. "Do you think I _want_ to keep all these secrets?" Robin defended. "Lying to Artemis, tip toe-ing around Batman, hiding who I am from everyone I care about - you think I do it for fun? I would love nothing more than to just rip off my mask, and spill all my secrets. Screw the consequences."

"So why don't you?" Wally challenged.

"Because, Wally. I don't get that luxury." He sounded so tired. Wally started to let up.

"Bruce would get over it," Wally weakly offered. "Eventually."

"Maybe. But Batman still hasn't forgiven me for telling you," Robin sourly replied. "Besides, this isn't about him. It's for the new girl's sake."

"Oh." Realization slowly started to dawn on Wally.

"I don't care if Artemis knows who I am. I _want_ her to know. But if she knows who I am… Batgirl has worked really hard to keep her two lives separate. I'm not going to take that from her."

With a sigh, Wally reluctantly gave in. "I get it. But I still think you could've kept your ID secret while sticking to the plan."

Robin shook his head. "I couldn't say the Court was going after both of us. It wouldn't have made sense. They only choose one person to apprentice. That's how they've always done it. Why suddenly change that and and recruit two different people at the same time? And why bother with Dick Grayson if they could have Robin instead? Based on what Artemis already knows, she would have found and jumped on that contradiction and-"

"Apprentice?" Wally cut in, brows drawn together.

"I-... yeah." Robin answered, rubbing at the back of his neck. "That's what he wanted."

"You. To be _Talon's_ apprentice?" Robin nodded. "What..." Wally grasped for a coherent thought to vocalize, sidelining his sudden unease. "What would that... entail, exactly?"

"Essentially, learning all about the Court. All the nitty gritty details of how they operate, what they're up to. Training with Talon. And, one day, continuing his legacy." Wally's head was buzzing, but he stayed quiet, waiting. "For the purpose of our investigation, I told him I was interested in learning more. Of course, the thing with secret societies is that they want you to commit upfront - they don't exactly do trial runs."

"So you told him no, right?" Wally asked. 

Evenly, Robin replied, "I told him my place is with Batman, and with this team."

Wally let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Good. That's the end of that, I guess."

"Guess so," Robin agreed. The pair sat in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for Artemis to return. When the sounds of muffled yelling were replaced by the noise of the zeta beam, Robin spoke up. "I... don't think she's coming back."

"Yeah, probably not." The two started grabbing their things, preparing to head out. But something was still nagging at the back of Wally's mind... "Hold up," he demanded, spinning around. "You said your place was with Batman and the team."

"Yup," Robin casually replied.

He felt silly asking, but he had to be sure. "So, Robin's not interested in Talon's deal. But what does Dick Grayson think?" Robin's eyes widened, surprised by the question. Wally anxiously waited for a reply. To his surprise, he was met with a fit of laughter. "Wh-? I'm being serious!" he pouted.

"Sorry, I-" stifling his laughter, Robin shook his head, lightly punching Wally in the shoulder. "Dude, you've got nothing to worry about. Trust me."

But for the first time in Wally's life, he wasn't sure that he could.


	7. Trust

“So Robin followed them and-”

“Oh, I’m sure he did,” Cheshire crooned over the video call, sarcasm laced through each word.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Artemis asked, arms folding over her chest.

“Nothing. Carry on.”

Artemis was already regretting this arrangement. Sure. The intel from Cheshire had been useful. And it was nice having someone to bounce ideas off of, to get a second opinion. But Jade just had so many opinions, usually about the most mundane aspects of the case. Constantly chiming in with unhelpful commentary, acting so smug as if-

“Do you know something I don’t?” Artemis demanded.

“I’m sure I know lots of things you don’t know,” Cheshire smoothly replied, expression unreadable behind her mask.

“Every time I so much as mention Robin, you get some smug attitude about you,” she called her out. “So what’s your deal?”

“Nothing,” she responded, a twinkle in her voice. “I was just thinking about Wonder Bread’s growth spurt - he’s gonna be taller than you, soon.”

“Seriously? That’s what you’re fixated on?” Artemis asked, irritation evident.

“You asked,” she shrugged. “I was focusing on the case up until you got distracted.”

“Whatever. As I was saying…” Artemis wrapped up her tale, passing along all the details Robin and Kid Flash had given her earlier that day. Jade, surprisingly, was quiet throughout all of this.

“So?” Artemis asked when she was done, “Any thoughts?”

“Several,” she jumped in, all business. “To begin, did they have any prior intel about the meeting? It seems rather lucky that they just stumbled upon it. And is there any security footage of the meeting? Or did they manage to avoid all the cameras in Gotham? It’s plausible that Talon might have, but there’s no way the kid got from Wayne Manor to downtown Gotham without being seen. You say Robin followed Talon to his safe house - did he mark the location? Are there any plans to go back and investigate Talon’s base?” she paused, adding, “Those are just the first things that pop out to me.”

Artemis stood, gaping like a fish. Despite the mask, she could feel her sister rolling her eyes through the screen. “You did ask them, right?”

“I didn’t get a chance to,” Artemis deflected. “Mom called in the middle of our meeting flipping out about something, and I left early.”

“Did you give them any information before you left?”

“Just the basics,” Artemis shrugged. “Nothing about the circus. I was holding onto that until they gave me their side.”

“Oh. So you’re not totally useless. Good,” Cheshire praised. “I’d hold onto that if I were you. Clearly they’ve got more to explain.”

“Is this how you work in the Shadows?” Artemis asked with a huff. “Withholding information from each other, just to use it as a bartering chip?”

“Like you didn’t just do the same thing.”

“That was different.”

“Was it?”

“It was,” Artemis insisted. “I fully intended - still intend - to tell them everything. I just held onto that one little clue so they’d tell me what they knew before running off to investigate.”

“But you were already blackmailing them - threatening to tattle to the big bat Bat,” she pointed out. “You could have just used that as their incentive. Dangling intel over their heads was just a bonus.” Artemis turned away from the camera, brushing back a stray hair. “Face it kid: if you trusted them to give you the full story, you would have already told them.”

“But hey- what do I know,” Cheshire shifted, “I work for the bad guys. I’m sure you hero types are always candid and direct with each other.”

Stubborn, Artemis gave one final protest. “Wally wouldn’t lie to me.”

“Doesn’t sound like Wally was doing much of the talking though, was he?” Cheshire shrugged. “Just some food for thought.”

Without another word, Cheshire ended the call, leaving Artemis alone with her thoughts.

As much as she hated to admit it, her sister had a point. There were a few details of the boys’ story that, on second glance, needed clarification. There were some gaps in the information. She was sure it wasn’t intentional. That, just as she hadn’t thought to question certain things, they hadn’t thought to bring them up. Still, there was more to the story.

Flopping onto her stomach, Artemis shot her boyfriend a quick text. She was surprised at his near immediate response. He was usually asleep by this hour; she hadn't expected a response till the morning, at least. She read the text, a frown creeping onto her face.

_"You're better off talking to Rob. He knows all the details, I just sorta tagged along. And if I'm being honest, I don't want to be dragged any deeper into this investigation."_

_"Got it."_ She hesitantly replied, brow furrowing in confusion. _"Why the sudden disinterest in the case?"_

_"... It's complicated. Can't explain over text. Sorry"_

_"No worries,"_ Artemis assured, though she was, indeed, full of worries. _"_ _See_ _you Wednesday?"_

_"You know it, babe! Try not to miss me too much ;)"_

With a roll of her eyes and a fond smile, Artemis tossed her phone down onto the bed. All that exchange had achieved was raising _more_ questions. 

Questions, she realized with a yawn, that would be answered another day. This was an ongoing investigation, and her main person of interest literally sat next to her in chem. She would be patient, bide her time. Ask Robin for details when she saw him at training later in the week. There was no rush.

 _"After all,"_ Artemis thought to herself, _"It's not like everything's gonna implode between now and Wednesday."_

* * *

Dick slouched down in the uncomfortable wooden seat, arms folded over his chest. This was not how today was supposed to go.

Over the years, Dick had become quite familiar with the Headmaster’s Office, for better and for worse. Always toeing the line, his reputation constantly fluctuating between Gotham Academy golden boy and problem child. One day being praised for leading the mathletes to national acclaim; the next, berated for managing to get tangled up in yet another confrontation.

It’s not like he was ever looking for trouble. However, as it did in all areas of his life, trouble seemed to seek him out.

He had been in the office for “fighting” several times over the years. He was never the aggressor - oftentimes he wasn’t even the target, stepping in on someone else’s behalf. Nonetheless, he had gained a bit of notoriety down in the office. Something Dick found incredibly unfair, considering he had never fought back.

Until today, anyway.

“Mr. Grayson, you are aware of the school’s new Zero Tolerance Policy, correct?” the headmaster had asked him.

“Yes, sir.”

“So you understand, then, that no violence is to be tolerated in this school, regardless of intention or motivation.”

“Yes, sir, but-”

“ - Furthermore, as our security footage shows you throwing the first punch - ”

“ - Wait, you're saying _I_ started the fight?” Dick cut in, indignant, “What do you call the three minutes before that, where they were verbally harassing me, and slamming my head into the lockers?”

“I suggest you watch your tone, young man,” the headmaster warned. “The rules clearly state that the party that throws the first punch is considered the aggressor, and will be punished accordingly.” Sensing Dick was about to protest yet again, he continued, “Of course, we have reviewed the footage leading up to the fight, and Mr. Gilzean’s roughhousing will be appropriately handled.”

“Roughhousing?” Dick snapped, “He had his hand around my _throat_.”

“I suggest you worry less about Mr. Gilzean, and more about yourself,” the headmaster admonished, a dangerous edge to his voice. “Your little display this afternoon puts you at risk for expulsion.”

Though he wanted to protest with every fiber of his being, Dick willed his mouth shut, knowing an attitude would do him no favors.

“When your guardian arrives, we will discuss an appropriate punishment. You will wait outside untill then. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” he confirmed through gritted teeth, dutifully heading out into the hall where he now sat. Waiting.

He didn’t so much as see, but sense Bruce’s arrival; his ominous presence looming over Dick, who kept his eyes firmly locked on the floor. Neither said a word.

In a matter of moments, Bruce was whisked into the office, door firmly shut behind him.

When the door finally opened again, Dick shot up out of his chair, turning to Bruce for a verdict. He gave none.

The headmaster turned to address Dick. "My secretary, Miss Felton will escort you out."

Dick nodded submissively, anxiety welling up in his chest. "Excuse me, sir," he politely asked, "May I go to my locker first, to grab my belongings?"

The headmaster checked the time on a hanging clock, frowning. "Classes are transitioning soon. Considering your volatile behavior today, I'd rather you not roam the halls with the rest of the student body."

Bruce squeezed Dick's shoulder, stopping him from vocalizing any objections. "I'll grab your things. Head out with Miss Felton." 

"But-"

"Alfred is waiting for you." Deflated, Dick complied.

Once he reached the car, he slid into the backseat, shooting Alfred a sheepish smile. "Hey, Alfie."

"Hello, young master," he replied, warm as ever. "I hear you were engaged in another round of fisticuffs this afternoon."

"You know how it goes," Dick joked, "Those meat-headed jerks can't get enough of me."

"From what I've been told, it seems they got their fill today," Alfred dryly replied, pulling out of the lot.

"Aren't we waiting for Bruce?" Dick asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Master Bruce drove separately," Alfred explained. "He is required in the office for the rest of the afternoon. However, he wished for me to inform you that he will be home for dinner, and will discuss today's occurrences with you at that time."

"Oh, great. Something to look forward to." Alfred raised an eyebrow at the sarcasm, sneaking a glance at his passenger in the rear-view mirror. "I'm in for it this time, Alf," Dick confided. "They didn't even tell me what the punishment was - just escorted me out. Wasn't allowed to grab my homework or anything."

"And what of your sparring partner?" Alfred asked. "Was that young gentleman escorted out as well?"

"'Course not," Dick sighed. "He and his goon squad are in the clear. The rules only apply to riffraff like me."

"Hm." The pair drove the rest of the way home in silence. When the arrived at the manor, Alfred turned to his young charge. "It seems that you spent your lunch period in the office, rather than the cafeteria. Can I make you anything?"

"I'm not hungry," Dick declined. "But thanks anyways." He shot the older man a weak smile before slowly heading up the stairs. Alfred frowned at the retreating form, noting the scattering of bruises, and the way he favored his left leg. He would be sure to follow up on that later. But for now, it seemed what the boy needed most was a moment of peace. 

* * *

Dinner was silent. Neither Bruce nor Dick so much as attempted any small talk. Eventually, though, Dick broke the silence. He was sick of not knowing his fate, and was ready to get this over with.

“So, what’s the damage?” he half heartedly joked.

“At-home Suspension. For the remainder of the semester.”

“All that for defending myself?” Dick gaped.

“You’re lucky he decided against suspending you, Dick. I watched the security footage - you went from self defense to offence fairly early in the fight.”

“It was three against one,” Dick justified. “And Gilzean carries knives. They’ve been waiting to get their hands on me all semester, I wasn’t going to take my chances. Besides, they had it coming. They’ve been tormenting everyone for _years,_ but administration’s too afraid to do anything about it. They don’t want to offend their parents with the notion that their _perfect little angels_ are anything but.”

“And yet, they don’t seem to mind coming to me with any grievances regarding you,” Bruce countered.

“Of course they don’t mind throwing me under the bus,” Dick muttered, “I’m not actually-” Dick cut himself off as soon as his brain caught up to his mouth. “Forget it,” he huffed.

“Regardless of circumstance or intent,” Bruce continued, ignoring Dick’s comment, “your suspension is final. Luckily you shouldn’t find it difficult to keep up, considering there’s only about a month left in the semester, including Thanksgiving break.”

Dick nodded in confirmation. “I’ll be okay. I’m ahead in most of my classes anyway. My only concern is final exams.”

“The headmaster has already contacted your teachers, and will email us a plan once one is set,” Bruce explained. “But frankly, your academics, and this entire suspension are currently the least of my concerns when it comes to you.”

“What do you mean?”

Bruce pulled something from his pocket, placing it in the middle of the table. “I found this in your locker.” Dick stared down at the object, frozen; it was the communicator Talon gave him. “Well?”

“Well what?” Dick responded, fighting to keep his voice steady.

“What is this?” Bruce asked.

“Looks like some sort of communicator, maybe?”

“How did this get in your locker?”

Dodgily, he answered, “Well, If it’s in my locker, I must’ve put it there.”

“Commissioner Gordon informed me you were spotted downtown last week with a masked man.”

“In this town? Sounds about right.” 

“ _Dick…_ ” 

“I don’t know what to tell you, Bruce.” Dick's shoulders slumped, tired of the game. “It seems like you already have all the answers. So instead of grilling me on what you already know, why don’t we just skip ahead to the part where you indict me?”

With that, Bruce dropped any pretense of civility. “I told you to _stay away_ from the Court of Owls.”

“It’s not like I sought them out. They came to me,” Dick flippantly responded. “What did you want me to do? Yell ‘stranger danger’ and run away?”

“You should have told me.”

“Why? So you could yell at me sooner?” Dick countered. “Besides, there’s _nothing_ to talk about. Nothing happened. And like I told Talon the other night, I’m not-”

“-The other night?” Bruce suddenly cut him off, brow raised. Too late, Dick realized his mistake. “You’ve had repeated contact with him?”

“I- we-” Dick sputtered, “It doesn’t matter! First time I met him, we hardly said two words to each other. He kept some thug from putting a bullet between my ears and ran off. When I ran into him again, I figured I’d do him the courtesy of listening to his sales pitch. I told him I wasn’t interested, and we went our separate ways. That’s _it._ ” 

“If that's it, why did you hold onto the communicator?” 

“Because it’s evidence,” Dick replied, confused. “I knew you’d be upset that I kept investigating, but I always planned on telling you everything I found. I thought maybe the communicator would be useful in your investigation.”

Bruce said nothing, face hardening into a rather Batman-like expression. “You don’t believe me,” Dick suddenly realized, heart sinking. 

“I want to.”

“So why don’t you?” Dick pushed.

Before Bruce could respond, they were interrupted by a series of beeps. Bruce pulled out his pager, quickly scanning the message. “Clayface broke out of Arkham.” With a sharp nod, Dick got up from the table, heading towards the Batcave.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Bruce asked, standing at his seat.

Dick skidded to a stop, turning to face Bruce. “You just said-”

“Yes. And I’ll handle it when we’re through here.” 

“Look,” Dick reasoned, “I know I majorly screwed up here. And you have every right to read me the riot act. But with Clayface on the loose, shouldn’t we put a pin in this and go-”

“You’re not coming with,” Bruce interrupted, voice void of emotion.

“So Robin’s grounded too?” Dick asked, looking up at Bruce. “For how long?”

“Permanently.” 

Dick nervously chuckled. “I’m serious, B.”

“So am I,” he responded, staring down at his ward. “From now on, there is no Robin.”


	8. Trust Pt. 2

Tonight was Barbara’s night off. For a normal teen, this would mean staying up late, maybe hanging out with friends. Watching Netflix. But Barbara was not a normal teen. And a night off from being Batgirl meant one thing: catching up on sleep. Which is why she was so vexed by the cheerful ringtone pulling her from her slumber.

Groggily, she rolled over, and grabbed her phone from the nightstand. “Hello?” she mumbled into the reciever.

“Babs?”

There was only one person that called her that. “Dick?” she sat up, suddenly on high alert. Though in person he was the chattiest kid she’d ever met, he had always hated talking over the phone. He never called. Not unless... “What’s wrong?”

“I-...” he hesitated, choking on his words. “Can I come over?”

“Yeah, of course,” she quickly answered, mind racing. “How far are you? Are you hurt? I can meet you-”

“No, I-” he exhaled a shaky breath. “I’m fine. I’ll be there in ten.”

“Okay.” Without another word, Dick hung up. With a sigh, Barbara grabbed her glasses, and headed into the living room.

True to his word, ten minutes later, there was a soft knock at the door. Barbara jumped up from the sofa, and opened the door to a dejected Dick Grayson.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized to the floor, “I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Come here.” She guided him inside, sitting him down at the kitchen table. “I put some hot water on,” she offered, pulling two mugs off of a shelf. “Tea, or hot chocolate?” He shrugged, noncommittally. “Hot chocolate it is,” Barb decided, grabbing two packets from the cabinet. As she stirred the powder and water together, she snuck a peek over at her friend. He kept his head down, absentmindedly running a finger over the grooves in the table. In all the time she had known him, she had never seen Dick look so… small.

Forcing her worry behind a friendly smile, she carefully brought the two mugs to the table, setting one in front of Dick. He continued to sit there, unresponsive. “Hey,” she tried, scooting her chair a bit closer. “What’s going on?” But Dick didn’t answer. She couldn’t even be certain that he had heard her. “Dick?” She reached out to him, gently tilting his chin up till their eyes met. Dick pulled back, averting his gaze. But she had already seen.

One eye was swollen shut, bruises already beginning to show. The other, puffy and red. He had been crying. “Hey,” she soothed, resting a palm on his cheek. He grabbed her wrist, but did not move her hand away. “Talk to me.”

A long minute passed before he answered. “I screwed up, Babs.” Patiently, she waited for him to continue. “He says I’m done. Robin is done.”

Ah. So this was about _him_. It was never good when Bruce and Dick fought. But when Batman and Robin went at it? All hell broke loose. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it,” Barbara assured. “I mean, you two fight all the time, but you always make up. This isn’t the first time he’s ‘fired’ you, right?”

“He meant it this time.” There was a finality in his voice that Barbara didn’t quite know how to argue against. “He told me he has no use for a partner he can’t trust. And he doesn’t trust me.” His hands gripped around the mug in front of him, eyes flashing dangerously. “When he said I was done, I didn’t even try to argue with him. Figured if he wanted me gone so bad, I’d just head down to the Cave, grab my uniform, and go. Stay out of his way, be Robin somewhere else.”

“Except, I couldn’t access the Bat Cave. He had already changed the codes.” Ruefully, Dick continued, “He made a whole show of sitting me down at dinner for a talk. Pretending to be impartial. To hear my side of the story. But he had already changed the codes.” He let out a frustrated laugh. “It didn’t matter what I said. He had already condemned me.”

“So I called him out on it. Picked a fight, even though I knew I’d lose,” he gestured towards his black eye. “He left to fight Clayface, and I left for Happy Harbor. Figured I’d crash there with the Team and wait for this whole thing to blow over. But, _turns out,_ I’m no longer authorized to use the Zeta Transports either.” He leaned his head on the back of his chair, tired eyes staring up at the ceiling. “Couldn’t go to Mt. Justice. Certainly wasn’t going to go back to the manor. That’s when I called you.”

Barbara hummed in response. She had about a dozen questions scrolling through her mind. But rather than barrage her friend with an interrogation, she settled on the most pragmatic question on her list. “So. What now?”

“Honestly?” Dick sighed, “I have no idea.”

Barbara squeezed his hand in gentle support. "You'll figure it out. You always do."

"I hope so."

* * *

"I should have hoped that you would've warned me before pulling a stunt like that," Alfred coolly remarked, as Batman removed his clay covered cowl. Though he emerged victorious, the fight with Clayface had been... messy, to say the least. It had been a while since he had fought this particular foe one on one, and during the battle he found himself missing Robin's assistance more than he cared to admit.

"It was necessary," Bruce stubbornly asserted, heading for the computer.

"Yes, I'm sure you feel it was," Alfred sighed.

"I needed him out of Gotham," Bruce justified, keeping his gaze on the monitor in front of him. "When he's upset with me, he leaves the city."

"So in order to protect him, you drive him away. A brilliant plan," Alfred sarcastically quipped, "until he returns home. What then? Will you find another clever way to send him packing?"

"I’m not sure that he _will_ come back," Bruce admitted, shoulders slumping, "Not this time."

“Is that a consequence you’re willing to accept?” Alfred challenged, "A life without your so-"

"-I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him safe," Bruce doubled down through gritted teeth. Before Alfred could respond, Batman dismissed him. “I have work to do.”

With a small sigh, Alfred made his way back up to the manor kitchen, where he would spend the rest of the night; sitting, waiting. Just in case.

* * *

Artemis had never seen a student body more awake on a Tuesday. The halls were buzzing with energy, students gleefully gossiping and laughing. It was a bizarre contrast to the usual zombies she was met with each morning. Spotting a familiar face, she made her way through the crowded halls. 

"Hey," Artemis called out, catching up to Bette Kane. "What's with everyone today?" 

"Well it is the last day before break," Bette pointed out. "And," she added, leaning in, "you heard about that fight yesterday, right? Apparently it was between Tony Gilzean and Dick Grayson."

"Okay, and...?" Artemis prompted. "Gilzean picks on Grayson all the time. How is this news?"

"Because this time, Grayson fought back," Bette divulged, eyes gleaming. "Apparently it got pretty intense. Rumor has it one of them got suspended - everyone's waiting to see which one shows up." 

As the doors swung open, all eyes eagerly turned to see who would enter. The crowd deflated, sighing and muttering when neither boy stepped through the doorway; it was only Barbara Gordon. "Okay, rude," Barbara muttered, walking through the crowd. 

"Hey, Barbara!" Bette waved, calling the redhead over. She distractedly made her way to the pair.

"Have either of you seen Dick?" she asked, scanning the halls. "He left this morning before I could check in with him. He said he'd meet me before-"

"Left this morning-? As in he stayed overnight?" Bette teased, smirk creeping onto her face. "It really is the quiet ones you have to watch out for."

Realizing the implication of her words, Barbara's face flushed. "What? NO! It wasn't- we're just- he was upset about something, so he came over to vent, that's _all_."

"Vent about what happened yesterday?" Bette pried, curiosity piqued. "So he _was_ suspended then?"

Barbara's head tilted to the side. "Suspended?"

Artemis and Bette shared a curious glance. They had each assumed that if _anyone_ would have the answer, it would be Barbara.

The doors opened once more, the hall filling with whispers as Tony Gilzean entered the building, looking smug as ever. "I think that's our answer," Bette muttered. Artemis watched as Barbara's face shifted from confusion, to hurt, to understanding, then finally a quiet fury in the blink of an eye. 

"I- I'm gonna-" she stopped. "I'll see you two in gym." Without waiting for a response, Barbara stalked down the hall, aggressively dialing a number into her phone.

"Oh he's in for it," Bette joked, nudging Artemis in the ribs. While she smiled back at Bette, deep down, she couldn't help but feel that something was very, very wrong. 

Following her instincts, Artemis waved a quick goodbye to Bette, and tailed Barbara down the halls, until she reached a rarely used stairwell in the back of the school. As Barbara waited for Dick to pick up, pacing in the alcove behind the stairwell, Artemis silently made her way to the top of the stairs, listening in from above. 

When Dick finally picked up, Barbara breathed a sigh of relief. "Where are you?" she hissed into the phone. "You said you'd be here." After a brief pause, she snapped, "Yeah, I got that. So then why-?" Another pause. "You were trying to get me out of the way, weren't you? ... Because you're doing something stupid, and you know it, otherwise you would have _told me_ and-" A pause, and a long sigh. "Fine. Just... be careful, okay? I mean it... Yeah, you too, dummy..." And like that, the conversation was over.

"You can come out now, Artemis," Barbara called up the stairs, startling the blonde, who awkwardly made her way down the stairs. 

"Sorry," she began, fumbling for an excuse. "I was just-"

"You don't have to explain yourself. I get it. You're worried about him too." She sat down on one of the stairs, leaving space for Artemis beside her. 

Tentatively, Artemis asked, "Is he okay?"

"I don't know. I hope so," Barbara replied.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Artemis tried again.

Barbara shrugged. "All he asked was that, when the time comes (whatever that means), no matter how ugly things get, or how bad the situation may seem - we trust him to do the right thing."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, thank you for your feedback as well as your patience waiting for this chapter! I know it took a bit longer than usual, but, as I'm sure y'all are aware, the world is a little bit of a hot mess right now. Such is life. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you're all happy/healthy/safe :)


	9. The Search

“Richard. What a pleasant surprise,” Talon greeted. If he was at all surprised by the boy’s sudden appearance in his apartment, he did not show it. He made himself comfortable in a well worn armchair, and motioned for Dick to join him. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve been doing some thinking,” Dick began, taking a seat. “About your offer.” He looked up, meeting Talon’s gaze with steely determination. “I’m in.”

“The Court will be happy to hear you reconsidered,” Talon acknowledged. “As am I. I couldn’t have asked for a better apprentice. Though I must ask - what made you change your mind?”

“I didn’t,” Dick shrugged. “I’ve been interested from the start. But as I said before - Robin’s place is with Batman; and my responsibilities as Robin would always come first.”

“What’s changed?”

Dick’s eyes darkened, recalling Bruce’s words: “From now on, there is no Robin.”

* * *

“Alright, who’s ready to get their butt kicked?” Wally called out to his friends, stepping out of the zeta tube. He stopped short, noting that everyone was huddled around a holo-screen, and their trainer, Black Canary, was nowhere to be found. “We do have training today, don’t we?”

“Canary called to cancel,” Kaldur explained. “The League moved up their meeting due to tomorrow’s holiday.”

“Okay…” That all made sense. Wally remembered his uncle complaining a while back about the League scheduling a meeting on Thanksgiving. “And why does it look like you guys are in the middle of a mission briefing?”

“We kind of are,” Artemis spoke up. “Unofficially. I was just filling everyone in on the Court of Owls investigation.” Noting the wary look in his eyes, she quickly added, “I know you don’t want anything to do with it, and if that’s still the case, I totally get it. But I need help. I put the case down for two days and everything's gone sideways.” 

“How so?” Wally asked, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach.

“The short version? Grayson was suspended from school, got into an argument with his guardian, ran away from home, and is now missing,” Artemis summed up, a hint of stress seeping into her voice.

Wally’s head was spinning. Was Dick _really_ missing? Or was he undercover? Both, maybe? But if he was going undercover, wouldn't he have said something? He wouldn't be stupid enough to go in without backup... would he? Maybe this was just some weird scheme to further separate his civilian ID from his hero persona. But if that were the case, wouldn't Robin be here? And if he's really missing... did he disappear as Dick, or Robin? What did Batman know?

As everyone continued discussing the case, Wally pulled out his phone, texting his Uncle Barry. Maybe he'd be able to pry some info out of the Bat.

“Are we sure his disappearance has anything to do with the Court of Owls?” M’gann asked. “I mean, from what you’ve told us, it’s clear that they’ve taken an interest in him. But it sounds like this might just be a classic case of teenage rebellion.”

“Maybe, but people don’t just run away from home for nothing,” Raquel countered. “His emotions must’ve been running high. He was alone; probably in a bad place, mentally - what better time for the Court to manipulate him over to their side then while he’s at his lowest?”

“All that assuming the kid’s innocent,” Conner reminded. “Before Wally got here, you mentioned that meeting between Grayson and Talon - and how Robin never heard the kid’s response when Talon asked him about joining their organization. Suppose he _was_ interested in joining - assuming it’s not some part time gig - first thing he’d have to do is figure out a way to get out of school. Easiest way to do that is to get himself suspended.”

“Sure, but he’d also have to figure out how to get around his guardian,” Artemis argued. “I know if I got suspended, my mom would have me on lockdown 24/7.”

Kaldur’s brow furrowed, zooming in on one of the documents on the holo-screen. “Your notes indicate that the Court of Owls comprise mainly of the Gotham elite - I do not want to throw around baseless accusations, but given that he fits that description, we cannot rule out the possibility that his guardian, Bruce Wayne, may be involved with the Court.”

Artemis nodded, mulling over the possibility. “I wouldn’t be surprised. Especially considering that he hasn’t bothered to file a missing persons report.”

Zatanna, who had been unusually quiet through this briefing, came to Bruce’s defense. “To be fair, in Gotham, they don't let you report someone as missing until they’ve been gone for a minimum of forty eight hours. Dick's only been missing for about forty. Less, if you take into consideration the night he spent at his friend's house. But speaking of missing,” she quickly transitioned, “where’s Robin?”

"He's gone," Wally spat, holding out a text from the Flash. "Batman fired him."

* * *

"Alright, before we wrap this thing up, does anyone else have something they'd like to discuss?" Green Arrow asked, glancing over his fellow teammates. This was the last meeting he'd have to lead during his term as team leader. The sooner it was over, the better.

"I've got something," the Flash called out, much to Ollie's chagrin. "I'd like to know what's going on with Robin." All eyes turned to Batman. "Kid Flash has brought some alarming information to my attention; in the interest of nipping any rumors in the bud, I'd like to hear from Batman directly on the matter." 

Batman turned, and addressed the room with his cold, steely voice. "Then I'll lay the rumors to rest. As Robin's legal guardian, it is my job to ensure his safety and well being. Due to extenuating circumstances in Gotham, allowing him to continue as Robin is no longer in his best interest. As such, Robin has been dismissed from active duty until further notice." Immediately, the room devolved into chaos.

"You fired him?" Green Arrow blanched.

"There's got to be more to the story," Superman insisted. "I know you two have been fighting a lot lately, but this seems-"

"-ridiculous. Kid's been in the game longer than half the people in this room. If this was really a safety concern, you woulda pulled him off the front lines seven and a half years ago."

"Guys? Hey, GUYS," Flash called out, silencing the room. "I'm taken aback by this decision too, and have _many_ questions, but Wally didn't bring up any concerns about Robin being fired - he said Dick ran away from home, and is now _missing?_ " 

"He's not missing," Bruce curtly replied. "I've been keeping track of his location on the Zeta logs." He pulled up the log files, displaying them in the center of the room. "Since he left Gotham, he's been staying in Happy Harbor. If Wally is concerned, he can find Robin at the cave."

"But Wally _is_ at the cave. The Team's hanging out right now, since their training was canceled. Robin isn't there."

"Yeah, and I've been in and out of the cave a bunch this week," Captain Marvel chimed in, "but I haven't seen Robin once."

"Nor have I," Red Tornado confirmed.

Batman's blood ran cold. He turned his attention back to the zeta logs, looking for the usual signature Robin left behind when hacking. He searched for signs of an outsider tampering with the logs. He found nothing. He'd have to look harder.

"Bruce," Superman called out. The use of his real name snapped him back to reality. "What's going on?"

"Nothing the League needs to concern itself with," he growled.

"It sounds like it is," Wonder Woman pressed. "I know you'd do anything to keep that boy safe. Know that we would, too. Let us help, Bruce." Reluctantly, he agreed. 

"So," Green Arrow asked, "What are we dealing with here?"

"The Court of Owls."

"... Never heard of 'em."

"That's by design," Batman admitted, pulling up his own personal files on the Court. "In Gotham, the Court is considered nothing but an old folktale. A myth. But they are very real. Gotham is known for all the chaos on the surface. The Court orchestrates that chaos from behind the scenes, working to shape Gotham in their own image. They are cunning, manipulative, and lethal. If Dick hadn't come into my life, I'm almost certain I never would have learned about them."

"How's that?" asked Superman.

"The Court of Owls has ties to the circus Dick grew up in. Most of what I know about the Court I learned from his old ringmaster: Jack Haly."

* * *

Turning to Artemis, Conner asked, "So. Where do we go from here?"

The team had more or less come to terms with the situation. Grayson was missing. Robin was fired. And if Barry's cryptic follow up texts were any indication, Batman and the League had no idea where he was, either.

"Now, we investigate." As Artemis spoke, she opened up a few case files onto the screen. "We'll split up into three squads: one will investigate Grayson's last known location - a bus stop on Park Row, better known as Crime Alley. The second squad will comb Gotham for any sign of Robin - or Talon. The third will follow up on a lead at Haly's Circus."

"Haly's? Didn't we go undercover there a few years ago?" M'gann asked.

"Yes. Which is why I think two of the former 'Daring Dangers' should take up that mission," Artemis explained, eyeing M'gann and Conner. "Jack Haly's fiercely protective of his circus. He's more likely to cooperate with people he already knows."

"And seeing as Gotham's your hometown, you'll be more useful investigating there," Conner finished, nodding. "I'll look up their tour schedule, see where they're headed next."

"I'll be on the Crime Alley squad, since I'm most familiar with the area," Artemis volunteer. "In that same vein - Wally, you know Robin the best. And you've actually seen Talon. Want to head up the other Gotham squad?"

"Got it," Wally agreed. "But I call Zatanna on my team."

"Fine with me," Zatanna shrugged, slightly taken aback by the request. 

"Kaldur and Raquel, you two with me then?" Artemis asked. They each nodded in confirmation. "Great. That's that, I guess. Go team," she awkwardly dismissed everyone. 

As the groups split up, preparing for their respective missions, Wally approached Zatanna. "So. How long have you known?"

"Known what?" she asked, lacing up her boots.

"Robin's secret ID," he coolly asked. 

"I don't. None of us know," she deflected, "Except for you, of course."

"I do know," Wally confirmed. "Which is why I know for a _fact_ that you do too."

With a huff, Zatanna gave in. "What gave me away?"

"You used his nickname in the briefing."

"Did I," she hummed, "I'll have to be more aware of that in the future." Turning to Wally she asked, "Just don't say anything to the others, okay? I shouldn't know, really. It wasn't Robin's decision."

"Then how-"

"When my dad became Dr. Fate, I needed somewhere to go," she explained. "I chose to stay here, but not before Batman offered me a place in his home. Once you know Batman is Bruce Wayne, it's not exactly hard to figure out the rest."

"Regardless of the circumstances, I'm glad you know," Wally admitted. "It's nice to have someone I can speak freely with about this case."

"Agreed," Zatanna sighed. "The case is complicated enough without adding secret identities into the mix."

"Do you think one of your spells might be able to track him down?" Wally asked, focusing on the mission at hand.

"Worth a shot." Zatanna shrugged, pulling up a holographic globe. "Wohs em eht tnerruc noitacol fo Drahcir Nhoj Nosyarg!" But nothing happened. "Strange..." she muttered to herself. "Maybe... Wohs me eht tnerruc noitacol fo Nibor!"

Her eyes lit up, as a tiny section of Gotham began glowing, like a beacon. "Looks like we've found ourselves a boy wonder."


	10. Tracks

“Any luck?” Kid Flash called out.

Zatanna just shook her head. “Lost him. Again.” She had never seen anything like this before. The fact that Robin could compartmentalize his mind so well that a locator spell seeking out Dick Grayson wouldn’t find him was ridiculous enough. The fact that his signal as Robin was fading in and out? _Maddening._ “It’s like he’s becoming someone else.”

“That can’t be good.” In an instant, Wally appeared back at Zatanna’s side. “Maybe if you try looking for Dick again?”

Zatanna just shook her head. “I’ve tried. When his magical signature started cutting in and out, I cast a new spell looking for both - right now, neither are showing up.”

“How is that even possible?” Wally huffed. “No matter who he says or thinks he is, he’s still _him_ , isn’t he?”

Zatanna just shrugged. “Whether you’re in costume or not, you are undoubtedly Wally West, one hundred percent of the time. But for him... Robin isn’t just a costume. It’s a full physical and mental transformation. He moves differently, thinks differently. To the point that he literally gives off a different energy. So as far as magic is concerned, there _is_ a difference.”

“So what, Bruce firing him sparked some sort of identity crisis?" Wally snorted.

"I know you meant that as a joke, but honestly?" Zatanna admitted, "It's likely that's _exactly_ what happened." 

Well if that’s the case,” Wally sighed, raking a hand through his hair, “who is he right now?”

“That’s what we’re going to figure out.” Flashing Wally a reassuring smile, Zee waved, “Come on. It looks like he was headed this way.” 

* * *

"So. What exactly are we looking for?" Raquel asked, taking note of their surroundings. 

"Grayson's last phone call traces back to this bus stop. He hasn't sent any messages since, but it seems like the phone's still in the area - probably ditched it somewhere nearby. I doubt Grayson stuck around, but it's a possibility, so keep an eye out. First priority is to recover that phone. Anything else is a bonus."

"Any way to narrow down our search beyond the three block radius we've got?" Raquel asked, motioning with her arms.

"Probably," Artemis admitted. "I don't know what, though. Technology's never really been my thing." 

After a moment, Raquel asked, "You ever send this Grayson kid an email?"

"I think so," Artemis answered, head tilted. "We've worked on group projects together, so I'm sure I emailed him at some point."

"Can I see your phone for a sec?" With a shrug, Artemis handed it over. She and Kaldur watched as Raquel typed away, bewildered. "There we go!" she declared, handing the phone back to Artemis. A red dot was pulsing in the middle of the screen.

"What did you-?"

"A lot of phones have trackers in 'em now - so you can find it if it's lost or stolen with an app. Log in is your email address, password you can reset via email, so..."

Kaldur just shook his head, small smile on his face. "So you hacked into his email?"

"I hacked his email," she confirmed, beaming down at her handiwork. "Robin showed me how to do it."

"Guys-" Artemis cut in, pointing at the screen. "We've got movement." Sure enough, the little red dot was traveling across the screen, farther and farther away. 

Scanning the map, Kaldur pointed out, "It seems to be heading east. However, the only person heading in that direction, is-"

“Hey, kid!” Artemis yelled out to the child on the other end of the street. The boy hardly spared her a glance. “Wait!” she yelled, running to catch up with him.

“What, you lost or somethin’?” he asked, as he continued down the street.

“Am I-? No, I live here,” she corrected, taking mild offence at being mistaken for a tourist.

“You’re not actin’ like it,” he accused.

“Look, I just- we're looking for someone, and we know he was here recently. We were just wondering if you’d noticed anything-”

“-suspicious?” he cut her off. “Look where you're at - everything around here’s suspicious, Blondie.”

“See, the thing is,” Artemis pressed, “we tracked his phone to that bus stop over there. But now, the signal is coming from right where we're standing. And _I_ don’t have it, so…” Without a second thought, the kid tore off, winding through streets and alleys. “Seriously?!”

Artemis chased after him, refusing to lose sight of their only lead. Kaldur and Raquel followed close behind. “Since we’ve already resorted to chasing this kid down,” Raquel called out, “are y'all cool if I just-”

“Do it,” Artemis agreed. Within moments, the boy found himself trapped in an energy bubble.

“Hey! What the hell is this?” he shouted, pounding his fists against the barrier.

“We just wish to speak with you,” Kaldur soothed, to no avail.

“I don’t talk to the feds.”

“We’re not the feds, we’re with the Justice League,” Artemis snapped. “I mean- ugh. We’re looking for a missing kid, and his phone is in your pocket.” Calming herself, she continued, “You’re not in trouble - we just want to know how you got his phone, and if you saw where he went. That’s it.”

The boy seemed unconvinced, but eventually spoke up. “A lot of people come through here. You’ll need to be more specific with your time frame.”

“He would have passed through here yesterday morning,” Kaldur supplied.

The boy thought for a moment, then asked, “Some pale, shrimpy looking nerd with dark hair came through - he was dressed like a rich kid, but didn’t act it. That sound like your guy?” Artemis nodded, pulling up a photo of the mathletes team on the Gotham Academy website. Immediately, the kid pointed to Dick Grayson. “He’s the one who gave me the phone - traded it for a bus pass.”

“For a _bus pass_?” Raquel asked, dropping the bubble.

The kid shrugged. “He didn’t have any money on ‘em. Can’t ride the bus for free.”

“But to trade a phone?” she asked, turning to Kaldur and Artemis “Why trade with him instead of just pawning it off? He’s gonna need more than a bus pass to get by on his own.”

“Because he’s not stupid,” the kid chimed in, rolling his eyes. “Dunno what he’s running for, but it’s clearly _something_ if the Justice League’s lookin’ for him. If he pawned the phone and got a ticket at the counter, he woulda been caught on like eight different cameras.”

Slowly, Artemis nodded. “And with your bus pass, he can get however far he needs to without any records of where he’s headed. Good call, kid.”

He shrugged, once again, a light pink dusting his cheeks. “Yeah, well. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist.” Suddenly remembering the situation, he asked, “Can I go now?”

“Almost,” Raquel answered, holding a finger up. “After he gave you the phone, did you see which bus he got on?”

“Didn't stick around. Had to get to class.”

“Mmm, no,” Artemis called him out. “If you live around here, you go to Gotham North. And Gotham North doesn’t have classes this week.”

The kid just grinned. “What do you know? Blondie’s a local after all.” At her prompting, he continued, “Two buses got in at the same time - I didn’t wait and see which one he got on, 'cause I didn’t really care. But one of ‘em was outbound to Metropolis. The other was the L2.”

“Thank you,” Kaldur smiled. “You’ve been quite helpful. We appreciate your assistance.”

“...Does that mean I can go now?” he confirmed, glancing between the three heroes.

Artemis nodded. “You're free to go.”

The trio headed down the street, back the way they came. “Wait!” the boy called out, just as they were about to turn the corner. “I- uh... “ hesitantly, he pulled out the phone. “Maybe there’s something useful on here. Like clues about where he’s going, or something.”

Smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, Artemis asked, “Yeah? What do you want for it?” Surprised by the question, he paused, for a moment.

“I dunno,” he mumbled, holding the phone out. “A burger?”

Grinning, Artemis agreed “You’ve got yourself a deal, kid.”

* * *

"It's getting late," Zatanna gently reminded. "We're supposed to meet back up with the others, soon."

"Right, sure," Wally brushed her off. "Find Rob, meet the others. Quick. Easy. We got this."

Cautiously, Zatanna began, "Wally, maybe-"

"Your tracker thingy's flashing again!" he cut her off, all enthusiasm. "I know that place! He's close, come on!" Without waiting for his partner, he sped off down the street, twisting and turning down well worn shortcuts, before skidding to a stop in front of a familiar diner. To his surprise, the building was dark, the neon sign in the window flipped to "closed."

Wally walked up to the door, reading the note on the glass. _"Holiday Hours: Wednesday, November 27th (7am-10pm); Thursday, November 28th (CLOSED)"_ Undeterred, he peered through the glass. Just in case. 

No luck.

 _"Must be on the roof, then,"_ he determined, checking the alley for a fire escape. He found none. _"Maybe on the other side..."_

"Wally, wait up!" Zatanna shouted, running down the street to meet him. She slowed to a stop, catching her breath. "Give a girl a little warning next time? We don't all have super speed, you know."

"Is he still here?" he asked, zipping up and down the block. "My guess is that he's on the roof or something, so we'll need to find a fire escape or-"

"Wally," Zatanna stopped him, gently grabbing his arm. "We need to head back."

"Yeah, I know. Let me just check the roof, and-"

"If he's up there, I'm sure he's heard you," she hinted.

"Yeah, stealth's never really been my thing," Wally nodded. "But still, I should go see what's taking him so long-"

"What I meant was..." she hesitated, searching for the right words. "If we haven't found him yet, maybe he doesn't _want_ to be found."

Head swimming, Wally took a step back. "What- what do you..?"

"I know you're worried about him," she reasoned. "I am too. But think this through. We've been using magic to track him all night. Despite that, despite your super speed, this is the _first time_ we've caught up with him. He's here," she nodded to the tracker on her arm. "He's right here. But he's not _here._ "

"Well, maybe he can't," Wally tried. "Maybe he's... maybe he was kidnapped! Maybe he's tied up somewhere in the diner, and needs our help, and-"

"Wally, we have been following him all over the city for hours," she pointed out. "If someone's holding him hostage, they're not doing a very good job."

"But the Court of-"

"They are interested in using him for their evil plans, yes. But, as far as we know, Robin told them he wasn't interested, and that was the end of it. We haven't found anything that indicates foul play. I know Artemis is worried there was, but she also doesn't know the full story. The facts are: he had a fight with Bruce, Batman fired him, and he ran away. I know it's not what you want to hear, but it could just be that he's not ready to face anyone." 

Wally stared at her for a second, before abruptly starting down the street. "Wally-"

"I'm gonna check the other side for a fire escape."

Finding one, Wally climbed up to the roof. He was met only with shadows. Fumbling for his goggles, he switched them to night vision, searching every nook and cranny. But, nothing. He was about to begin a sweep of the adjoining rooftops, when Zatanna stopped him.

"He's gone."

* * *

A few rooftops down, a young man's comm crackled to life. _"Time to head back,"_ the voice ordered. _"Anything worth noting?"_

He watched, as the two heroes headed down to the street. The speedster gave one final glance up to the rooftops, eyes lingering on his hiding spot. Instinctively he tucked himself deeper into the shadows. After a moment, the speedster turned back to the magician, and the pair disappeared from sight.

"No," he answered. "Nothing."


	11. Chapter 11

“Any luck finding Robin?” Artemis asked, once the group was all settled in. Rather than attempting to inconspicuously meet up in the city, the team decided it was easier for all involved to debrief back at the cave.

“He’s still in Gotham. We know that much,” Zatanna admitted. “We tried tracking him with a locator spell, but he avoided us all night. I don’t think he’s ready to talk.”

“He knows where to find us when he’s ready,” Kaldur assured.

“Any chance we could use one of your locator spells to track down Grayson?” Raquel asked.

“We tried,” Zatanna sighed. “Didn’t work. His location is being... masked, somehow.”

 _“Masked,”_ Wally thought to himself, _“That’s one way to put it.”_

“So we’re doing this the old fashioned way,” Raquel joked. “No sweat, we got this.”

Artemis nodded in agreement. “We just have to figure out which of those two buses Grayson got on, and track him down from there. We’re bound to spot him somewhere along the route - there’s no way he avoided every camera in the city.”

“His phone may hold some clues to his whereabouts as well,” Kaldur added. 

“Phone?” Wally suddenly chimed in, interest piqued.

“Oh, right!” Artemis exclaimed, pulling out the phone in question. “We recovered his phone - apparently he traded it to some kid for his bus pass. The kid traded it back to us for a burger and a shake.”

As the conversation carried on around him, it quickly dawned on Wally just how much of a mess he’d be in once they got that phone unlocked, opening it to find hundreds - if not thousands - of texts between Wally West and Dick Grayson. One quick glance over to Zatanna, and he realized she was in the same boat. 

He needed to get into that phone before they did. 

As Wally tuned back into the conversation, he heard Raquel explaining, “We’ve gotta be careful trying to break into it though. My cousin used to have that same phone - apparently after like five wrong password attempts, it wipes everything from the phone’s memory.”

There was his chance. “I’ve got a way around that,” Wally jumped in, trying his best to sound casual. “Uncle Barry’s got a program on his computer for work that can cycle through all the possible combinations without tripping the security features. I could bring it home with me and have it unlocked by this time tomorrow.”

He held back a sigh of relief, as one by one, all of his team members agreed to hand the phone off to him for the night. “Just don’t forget to bring it back,” Artemis warned with a smile.

With plans to meet again the following evening, the group split up, heading back to their respective cities.

Once Wally made it back to Central City, he was relieved to find he was the first one home. He was anxious enough about what he was about to do without having to muster up some front of normalcy for his detective uncle and journalist aunt. 

He sped up to his room, and slumped onto his bed, removing the phone from his pocket. Before he had the time to second guess his decisions, he entered Dick’s password from memory, watching with tired eyes as the lock screen dissipated before him. 

Time to get to work.

He started with the obvious, deleting the string of messages between Dick and Zatanna, and removing her from his contacts. He was sure to remove the messages from Clark Kent and the rest of the Leaguers as well. One by one, he deleted the conversation threads, pausing on a string of messages sent between Dick and Dinah. 

_Of course he won’t say it outright, but the signs are there. He wants me gone._

_I know you’re upset about what the kids at school have been saying, but you know things aren’t that black and white. While he hasn't adopted you, that doesn't mean he's going to suddenly kick you out of his life when you turn eighteen._

_I know he wouldn't - it’d wreck his image. Hence Bruce actively working to drive me away. So I leave on my own accord._

_Do you honestly believe that?_

_It's hard to know what to believe anymore._

Stomach churning, Wally deleted the messages. “Focus,” he muttered to himself, powering on. But he found himself hesitating once more when he reached the messages between Dick and Barbara. 

While the entire process of going through his best friend’s phone without his permission felt gross and invasive to begin with, Wally felt extra weird about going through the messages between the pair. But if there was any mention of Batgirl in their chats… 

Reluctantly he dove in, using the phone’s search feature to look for any obvious keywords and phrases: Bat, Bird Boy, Capes, Afterschool Activities. Once he was satisfied that all traces of Batgirl were eliminated from the thread, he moved on, trying his best not to notice the unread messages at the bottom, sent twice daily since Dick’s disappearance. One caught his eye anyway.

_You don’t have to do this, you know. You don’t have anything to prove, okay? Remember that, you big dummy. And come back safe <3_

Finally, Wally deleted the years-long thread of messages between himself and Dick. He didn’t even bother opening the thread, trying to forget the last few messages they had exchanged. 

_That’s all great, Dick. Just keep me out of it, okay? I don’t want any part of this case, or your little crusade to one up Batman._

_Understood. I won’t bother you again._

But maybe if he _had_ bothered Wally about it, Wally would at least have an idea of what Dick was planning. Maybe he could’ve talked Dick out of whatever stupid plan he had come up with. Or been a part of it. Or-

“Knock knock,” Iris vocalized, peeking her head into Wally’s room.

“Hey,” Wally called out, scrambling to hide Dick’s phone. “How was work?”

“Slow news day. Covered a story about the world's oldest chinchilla,” she divulged, a twinkle in her eye. “How’s everything on the Wally front?”

“Couldn’t be better!” he lied through his teeth. “No school, it’s Thanksgiving tomorrow, aka the best food holiday of the year. What’s not to love?” He forced a grin across his face.

Apparently it was convincing enough. “Best food holiday, huh? High praise from a speedster with your metabolism,” Iris joked. “Barry should be home soon - down for a few rounds of Uno?”

“Oh. Uh, maybe tomorrow,” Wally declined. “My teachers assigned a ton of work over break. I think I’m gonna try knocking some of it out tonight so I can enjoy tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Iris shrugged. “If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks Aunt I.” As the door closed behind her, all emotion drained from Wally’s face, replaced by a deep set exhaustion. Lies were coming a little too naturally to him today. 

_“You’re gonna have to go through his photos, too.”_

With a sigh, Wally got back to work.

* * *

At promptly 5:00pm the following evening, Artemis found herself waiting outside the Allen’s house, tugging on the hem of her sweater. She stood up straight as the door swung open.

“Artemis, I’m so glad you could make it!” Iris greeted, ushering her inside.

“Me too. Thanks for the invite,” Artemis grinned, eyes scanning the room. “Where’s Wally?”

“He’s been holed up in his room since he got here,” Iris explained. “He mentioned something about a term paper, and getting a head start on it over Thanksgiving break.”

Frowning, Artemis pointed out, “That doesn’t sound like him.”

“I was suspicious too. But hey, maybe you’re finally rubbing off on him,” Iris winked. “Dinner will be ready soon - why don’t you go drag him down here for me?”

“Sure thing,” she nodded, heading up the stairs. When she pulled the door open, she was surprised to find Wally slumped over his desk, sound asleep. “Wally?” she called out to him. “Hey, Walls.” When she placed a hand on his shoulder, he jumped at the touch, papers flying through the air.

“Whathappenedisheokaydidtheyfindanythi-” He paused, registering who was in front of him. “Artemis!” he greeted, pulling her into a hug. “You made it!”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” she replied, confusion tingeing her voice. As she pulled away from the hug, one of the scattered papers crunched under her foot. 

“Oh, sorry. Let me get that,” Wally insisted, hastily cleaning up the mess. 

“Is everything okay?” she asked, watching as he tapped the papers into a neat pile. 

“What? Yeah, fine. Couldn’t be better!” Wally insisted. “Especially now that you’re here, babe.”

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Artemis asked, taking note of the dark circles under his eyes.

“I wasn’t tired. Unlocked Grayson's phone pretty quick, so I figured I’d get a jump on the whole bus thing,” he brushed her off, words jumbling together into a manic, sleep deprived rant. “There was nothing in his search history about the bus schedules, or sketchy buildings, or much of anything, really. So I started with those two potential buses he might have gotten on, cross referencing the different bus stops along the route with working security cameras to see if I could find him that way. But no luck. I thought maybe he got off on one of the stops without a working security camera. So I looked at security cameras in the surrounding areas of those stops, but the time frame was too wide, and a few stops had the added possibility of him transferring to a different line without being seen. So I tried cameras along those routes. Still no luck. So then I thought: why not just create a program to hack into _all_ of the security feeds in Gotham _simultaneously_ , and then run through it at 10x the speed, searching for anyone matching his height and description. But, once again, I found _nothing_. It's like he's a ghost. Robin is just gone, without a trace, and-”

“Richard,” she gently corrected. Richard Grayson is missing. You and Zee saw Rob yesterday. Remember?”

“Wha- yeah, yeah,” Wally nodded, rubbing at his eyes. “Richard Grayson. That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

Deciding not to press the issue, Artemis changed the subject. “Dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t you take a break? Let's enjoy the holiday, spend some time with your family. We’ll come back to the case with a fresh set of eyes later tonight. Okay?” Sensing his hesitation, she added, “Besides, you’ve got to be hungry by now. By the looks of this place, all you’ve had since yesterday is Red Bull and protein bars.”

“I-" before he could argue, his stomach growled, betraying him. "Okay. Yeah, maybe a break is a good call," he conceded, as Artemis gently grabbed him by the hand, and led him down to the dining room.

* * *

“Master Bruce,” Alfred called out, searching for his charge in the dim lighting of the bat cave. 

“Over here,” Bruce curtly responded, eyes locked on the computer in front of him. 

Alfred made his way down the stairs, frowning when he noticed Bruce’s garb.

“I see you’re all suited up,” he commented. “Though I wonder if the batsuit might be a bit too formal for a dinner party?” he quipped. “Might I suggest a nice button up and khakis instead?”

“I’ve had a change of plans,” Bruce answered. “Enjoy the party, Alfred. And please thank Dr. Thompkins for the invitation.”

“Of course, sir.” After a moment, he added, “What shall I say of Master Dick's absence?”

Without hesitation, Bruce replied, “Tell them he’s spending the holiday with his uncle.”

“As you wish,” Alfred sighed. Hesitating on the stairs, he turned back to Bruce. "Is there any way I might convince you to-"

"I have work to do," Bruce cut him off, slipping the cowl over his head. With one final, tense nod, Alfred made his way back up to the manor.

* * *

Thanksgiving with the speedsters was always an occasion. One Wally looked forward to every year. It was great having the whole family together - talking and laughing, eating, sharing stories, playing games. But this year, it was all too much.

Too loud. Too happy. “Right Wally?” Too overwhelming - too many smells, too many options, too many people. His head was reeling. “Wally?” He couldn’t focus. Too many conversations overlapping, too many questions being asked too much-

“W _ally._ ” He snapped back to reality at the sound of his uncle’s voice. All of a sudden, everything was too quiet. “You doing okay?” Everyone was staring at him, either in concern, or confusion, or a combination of both. There were too many eyes on him, too much-

“I’m fine,” he insisted. “Just spaced out for a second there.” He grinned, trying to reassure them. No one was convinced.

“You haven’t touched your dinner,” his mother pointed out.

“And you look a little pale,” Iris pressed. “Are you sure you’re feeling-”

“I said I’m fine,” he snapped, voice a little too loud. “I just-” It was all just _too-_ “I’m gonna get some air.” Before anyone could react, he jumped out of his seat, and sped out the front door.

Artemis stood to follow him, when Barry stopped her. “I’ll catch up with him. Stay here, enjoy yourself,” he insisted. “We’ll both be back in a flash!” With a wink, Barry sped off after his nephew, leaving his family rolling their eyes in his wake. 

“He really needs some new material,” Jay insisted, shaking his head.

It didn’t take long for Barry to catch up with Wally. Without food or sleep in his system, he was running on fumes. He barely made it three miles before his legs gave out beneath him.

Spotting his nephew laying in a patch of grass, Barry took a seat beside him. “Alright, kid, spill. What’s going on?”

“What’s going on?” Wally repeated. “My best friend in the world is missing and I’m sitting around eating turkey.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on yourself?” Barry asked. “You’ve been working nonstop since you got here - and I know for a fact it's not on homework.” Wally sat up, drawing his knees to his chest. “I understand that you’re worried about him. I’m worried too. But it’s okay to take a break. In fact, it’s necessary. How far are you going to get searching for him if you’re not taking care of yourself?”

“A couple miles, apparently,” Wally quipped.

“We’ll find him,” Barry promised. “The search for Robin is the League’s number one priority. In fact, Batman and Dr. Fate are working on tracking him down as we speak.”

“It won’t work,” Wally shut him down, pulling at a clump of grass. “Zatanna already tried.”

“It might,” Barry insisted, “Since the Leaguers know-”

“She knows. It still didn’t work,” Wally frowned. “Not completely, anyway. Thanks to his superpower, mental compartmentalization, Robin and Dick count as two separate people. And right now, he isn’t operating as either one. We caught up with him in Gotham last night, but he didn’t want to talk to us.” 

“He’s in Gotham?” Barry blurted out, “But he’s supposed to be-” Brain catching up to his mouth, he cut himself off.

“Supposed to be where?” Wally asked, suddenly on high alert. 

Trying to find the words, Barry explained, “Bruce didn’t really mean it when he fired Robin - he was trying to keep him out of Gotham for a little while. He figured Rob would head to the cave, or go to you, but-”

“But he didn’t,” Wally finished, sick to his stomach. “He didn’t come to me because we were fighting. Because I told him I didn’t want anything to do with this stupid case, or the Court of Owls, but-”

“Wait, how do you know about the Court of Owls?”

“-if I had known, I never would have said that. But now it’s too late, and when he needed me, he didn’t come to me. He went off alone like an _idiot_ to do who knows what, and-”

“Wally, it’s not your fault that-”

“He _called me_ ,” Wally revealed, distraught. “The night he ran away? His first instinct was to turn to me, but he changed his mind. He hung up before the call went through.”

“How do you know he tried to-”

“‘Cause they found his phone,” Wally yelled, pulling at his hair. “I took it home so I could delete any evidence of Dick Grayson and Robin being the same person. But then I found that on his call log, and-”

“-They?”

“Oh. Yeah," Wally laughed, "The whole team is involved. M’gann and Connor are flying to the circus, Artemis, Kaldur and Raquel traded Dick’s phone for a burger and-”

“You’re not making much sense, kid.”

“-they think they’re just looking for Dick Grayson and that Robin’s fine. But he’s not fine. And I can’t focus on finding him because I keep having to play keep away with his secret identity. All because I pinky promised him when I was twelve that I wouldn’t tell anyone. But that means keeping secrets, and lying to Artemis, and undermining the investigation that’s supposed to be helping him get away from-” Wally paused, Barry’s words from earlier registering in his brain. “You asked me how I know about the Court of Owls.” Turning to his uncle, he asked, “How do _you_ know about the Court of Owls?”

Carefully, Barry sidestepped, “We should talk to Batman.”

“You know about them because Batman told you - he probably told the whole League last night, right? After you asked about Dick running away? That’s why you said before that Batman was trying to get him out of the city - he knew they were coming after Dick. He _knew_ , which is why he didn’t want us investigating. He wanted to keep Robin out of it.” Wally pieced together. “And, in classic Batman fashion, instead of just _telling_ Robin this, he does what? _Fires_ him? It doesn’t make sense, It’s like he _wanted_ him to-” Wally stopped short, eyes widening in horror. 

_“He wouldn’t do that. Bruce wouldn’t do that… would he?”_

_“Would Batman?”_

“You know what? You’re right,” Wally agreed, voice calm and steady. “Let's talk to Batman.”


End file.
